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{INCUBATION I 

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.4 GUIDE TO 



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Profitable Poultry Raising, 



BY 



E. & C. VON CULIN. 



PRICE, ONE DOLLAR. 



DELAWARE CITY, DEL. 

E. & C. Yon Culin. 

1894. 
Copyright, 1854 by E. & C. Von Culm. 



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PREFHCE. 



This book is written to aid and inform beginners 
who know little or nothing of artificial incubation 
and brooding ; to assist those who have learned 
something about it and wish to know more ; and 
to supply a handy reference for those who know it 
all. 

As originally written, it would have made a 
volume three times as large as the present one, but 
the people of to-day want everything boiled down, 
concentrated, concise, convenient. A triple ex- 
tract contains all the perfume and vital qualities of 
three times its bulk of plain tincture ; so we have 
rewritten it, carefully eliminating all superfluous 
matter, and placing the gist of it before our readers 
in a compact form, convenient for the desk and 
not too cumbersome for a good-sized pocket. In- 
stead of using a thick, porous paper, which would 
increase the bulk fourfold, we have chosen a heavy, 
superior plate paper and new type, believing that 
our readers would prefer elegance to unnecessary 
bulk. 



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INCUBATION IN EGYPT. 



Artificial incubation is almost as "old as the 
hills." It was known and practised in ancient 
Egypt, and is to-day "an important industry of that 
interesting country. 

While no monumental picture of an incubator 
has been discovered, the authorities are a unit in 
the belief that the Egyptian hatching houses of the 
present time are substantially the same as those of 
prehistoric Egypt. 

Diodorus of Sicily speaks of it as an art that had 
been in use a long period before his time. Pliny 
says nearly the same. The Roman Emperor 
Hadrian found it generally practised in Egypt, and 
makes special mention of it in his description of 
the usages and customs of that country. 

A French missionary, who traveled in Egypt in 
1737, says: "I found there were about four 
hundred chicken- ovens, each one furnishing about 
two hundred and forty thousand fowls, making 
about one hundred millions produced each year 



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from this source alone. In selling them, they do 
not count them, but measure them by the bushel, 
like grain. Though there are always some 
smothered, this process saves the trouble of sep- 
arating them according to quality and size. In 
attempting to ascertain the origin of this practice 
of artificial incubation and to explain its success, 
two facts should be noticed ; first, that it was 
exceedingly useful to multiply the amount of food 
as healthy as that furnished by the flesh of birds ; 
and second, without some such process fowls of all 
kinds would have become very scarce, for the 
reason that the heat is so great in the laying season 
that the pullets abandon their eggs for the society 
of the cocks. Finally, geese, ducks and other fowls 
are also multiplied by incubation." 

The Egyptians of to-day are extensive raisers of 
all kinds of poultry, and as hens do not sit well in 
that or any other hot country, most of the birds 
are hatched in artificial hatcheries or incubating 
houses, which, on account of their necessarily large 
size and consequent expense of building and man- 
agement, are not built upon the farms of the 
poultry raisers, but are owned principally by 
Copts, who make a business of hatching for the 
farmers and villagers on shares or for a stated 
price, the eggs being carried to them by the poultry 
keepers, who receive the birds, or their share of 
them, when hatched and ready to remove. 

Notwithstanding the fact that they cling to their 
primitive style of incubation, the Egyptians are 
among the most successful in artificial hatching, 
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and it is worth while to note that they use no hot 
water tanks in their hatching rooms. Hot air 
suits them better because it is easier to control 
than hot water, and more economical — important 
items in a hot country and where fuel is high. 

Though slow to adopt improvements, it is proba- 
ble that they will ultimately make use of the porta- 
ble incubators which require no night attendant, 
and with which each farmer may do his own hatch- 
ing at home. More than ten years ago a French 
company in Egypt were using portable incubators 
in hatching ostriches at their ostrich park at 
Matareeyeh, which lies ten kilometres northwest of 
Cairo and one kilometre south of the ruins of Helio- 
polis, not very far from the old railroad which runs 
direct from Cairo to Suez. 



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EGYPTIAN INCUBATING HOUSE. 



The " mahmal " or incubating house is built of 
sun-dried bricks and contains from eight to twenty- 
four ovens. On each side of a passage is a row of 
ovens and fire-places. The ordinary size of 
the ovens is io feet long, 8 feet wide and 6 
feet high. The fire-places are above the ovens, 
and are the same length and width as the ovens, 
but not so high. There are doorways to each 
oven, large enough for a man to enter, and a small 
opening between the ovens and the fire-places. 
Besides this there is an opening connecting all the 
fire-places. The latter have places for the smoke 
to escape, and there are also chimney holes in 
the roof of the passage but they are seldom 
opened. The eggs are placed in the ovens upon 
mats or in chopped straw, in tiers one above the 
other, usually not more than three high. The 
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fuel used is "gellah," made of the dung of ani- 
mals mixed with chopped straw and moistened to 
form flat, round cakes, which are sun-dried before 
they are used. Only half of the number of ovens 
are used the first ten days, and the fires are 
lighted upon the fire-places above them only. On 
the eleventh day these fires are extinguished and 
other fires are lighted on the remaining unused 
fireplaces. Then some of the eggs are removed 
from the first set of ovens to the fire-places above, 
which are, of course, still heated, though the fire 
has been removed. When the first eggs are 
hatched and the second half hatched, fresh eggs 
are placed in the position made vacant by those 
first hatched. This rotation continues until the 
hatching season is over. The chicks are kept in a 
warm room for two days and then delivered to the 
various parties for whom they are hatched. 

Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, in his ' .Popular Ac- 
count of the Ancient Egyptians, 1854," describes 
the ovens and the process as follows : ' ' The 
modern process, like that of ancient times, is this : 
they have ovens expressly built for the purpose ; 
and persons are sent round to the villages to col- 
lect the eggs from the peasants, which, being given 
to the rearers, are all placed on mats, strewn with 
bran, in a room about 1 1 feet square, with a flat roof 
and about 4 feet high, over which is another cham- 
ber of the same size, with a vaulted roof and about 
9 feet high ; a small aperture in the centre of the 
vault (at /), admitting light during the warm 
weather, and another (e) of larger diameter, 



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immediately below, communicating with the oven 
through its ceiling. By this also the man 
descends to observe the eggs ; but in the cold 
season both are closed, and a lamp is kept 
burning within ; another entrance at the front 
part of the oven, or lower room, being then 
used for the same purpose and shut immedi- 
ately on his quitting it. By way of distinction I 
call the vaulted (A) the upper room and the lower 
one (B), the oven. In the former are two fires in 
the troughs a b, and c d> which, based with earthen 
slabs, three-quarters of an inch thick, reach from 
one side to the other against the front and back 
walls. These fires are lighted twice a day ; the 
first dies away about midday, and the second, 
lighted at 3 P.M., lasts until 8 o'clock. In the 
oven the eggs are placed on mats strewn with 
bran, in two lines corresponding to, and immedi- 
ately below, the fires a b, and c d, where they re- 
main half a day. They are then removed to a c, 
and b d ; and others (from two heaps in centre), 
are arranged at a b, and c d, in their stead, and so 
on till all have taken their equal share of the warm- 
est positions, to which each set returns again and 
again, in regular succession, till the expiration of 
six days. 

" They are then held up, one by one, towards a 
strong light ; and if the eggs appear clear, and of 
an uniform color, it is evident they have not suc- 
ceeded ; but if they show an opaque substance 
within, or the appearance of different shades, the 
chickens are already formed, and they are returned 
10 



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to the oven for four more days, their positions 
being changed as before. At the expiration of the 
four days they are removed to another oven, over 
which, however, there are no fires. Here they lie 
for five days in one heap, the aperture (e,f) and 
the door (g) being closed with tow to exclude the 
air ; after which they are placed separately about 
one or two inches apart, over the whole surface of 
the mats, which are sprinkled with a little bran. 
They are at this time continually turned and 
shifted from one part of the mats to another, dur- 
ing six or seven days, all air . being carefully ex- 
cluded, and are constantly examined by one of the 
rearers, who applies each singly to his upper eye- 
lid. Those which are cold prove the chicken to 
be dead, but warmth greater than the human skin 
is the favorable sign of their success. 

" At length the chicken, breaking its egg, gradu- 
ally comes forth ; and it is not a little curious to 
see some half exposed and half covered by the 
shell ; while they chirp in their confinement, 
which they show the greatest eagerness to quit. 

"The total number of days is generally twenty- 
one, but some eggs with a thin shell remain only 
eighteen. The average of those that succeed is 
two- thirds, which are returned by the rearers to 
the proprietors, who restore to the peasants one- 
half of the chickens ; the other being kept as pay- 
ment for their expenses. 

" The size of the building depends, of course, on 
the means or speculation of the proprietors ; but 
the general plan is usually the same ; being a series 



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of eight or ten ovens and upper rooms, on either 
side of a passage about ioo feet by 15, and 12 
in height. The thermometer in any part is not 
less than 86° or 88° Fahr. ; but the average heat 
in the ovens does not reach the temperature of 
fowls, which is 104 . 

" Excessive cold or heat are equally prejudicial 
to this process ; and the only season of the year at 
which they succeed is from the 15th of Imsheer 
(23d of February) to the 15th of Baramoodeh (24th 
of April), beyond which time they can scarcely 
reckon upon more than two or three in a 
hundred." 




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Fig. i, plan of hatching house, A A A A, plan 
of the upper rooms or fireplaces ; F, passage 
between ovens ; g g g g, doors ; e e e e y opening 
between ovens and fireplaces ; G G, rooms for 
attendants, fuel, etc. Fig. 2, section of hatching 
house; A, upper rooms or fireplaces; B, lower 
rooms or egg ovens. Fig. 3, plan of upper rooms 
or fireplaces ; fire placed at a, b, c, d. Fig. 4 , 
lower rooms or ovens, showing eggs in place. 
Figs. 5 and 6, sections from back and front of 
upper and lower rooms. 




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A GOOD INCUBATOR. 



To succeed in raising poultry, either for broilers 
or for egg production, it is necessary to have a. good 
incubator. A tolerably good or ordinary one will 
not do ; you should have the very best you can 
find, regardless of cost, because the first cost cuts 
a very small figure when compared with the losses 
which always follow the purchase of a "Cheap 
John " incubator (?). Of course, you know there 
are various kinds of cheap affairs misnamed incu- 
bators. 

The great demand for incubators and brooders 
has tempted sash manufacturers, makers of show 
cases and others, to get out various boxes, cases, 
tanks and barrels, with various attachments, and 
call them incubators or hatchers. Some buy a lot 
of almost expired patents, and boom the new 
machine on the reputation of the old one, to which 
the patents originally applied, while the new ma- 
chine possesses none of the good points of the old 
one, which to build would cost considerably more 
than the new one is sold for. 

Many of this class never had any merit, and went 
out of the market, but new ones bob up along the 
line, have their day of deceit and disappear. Watch 
for them. 

The wonderful improvements in mechanism in 
the last few years have made it possible to procure 
a first-class machine in almost any line, and incu- 
bators and brooders have moved in the front rank 
of progress. There is no difficulty in getting a 
14 






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good incubator, provided you are careful to avoid 
bad ones and are willing to pay a fair price for the 
best. 

Do not be deceived by a similarity in names of 
incubators or hatchers. It sometimes happens that 
a sharper, with plenty of cash to advertise and push 
a business will drive a rattling trade in a good- 
looking inferior machine for several years, making 
thousands of sales and hosts of unhappy purchasers. 
Then, when complaints pile up like blocks of ice in 
a gorge, and respectable papers begin to question 
the wisdom of allowing the advertisement to remain, 
and the business begins to decline, he gets out 
another cheap trap and gives it another name, 
similar to that of a first-class hatcher, which has an 
established reputation. Sharps or sharks of this 
kind sometimes hatch out a new firm name with 
the new machine, and the people make a rush for 
the cheap affair, many of them confusing or con- 
founding it with the meritorious machine, whose 
name it approaches as closely as possible, without 
possessing a single feature, except the name, which 
could be called even a weak imitation. These 
tricksters disappoint their customers and injure the 
reputation of a good machine. Look out for 
them. 



HOW TO CHOOSE XS INCUBATOR. 



We are not going to tell you which make of 
incubator to buy ; but we are going to try to show 
you how the various kinds of incubators are con- 
15 



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♦& 

♦a structed, their several methods of operation, and 
% the good and bad points of each method, with our 
if reasons for calling them good or bad, as the case 
| may be. Having used nearly all the makes now 
on the market, and many that have gone out of 
the market, we should be able to do so very fairly. 
Then we shall leave you to judge for yourself. 
This you can do intelligently if you will carefully 
examine each machine, either by actual sight of it, 
or by the illustrations which their manufacturers 
send out to inquirers. 

First look at the machine, or a picture of it, read 
the description which accompanies it, and be sure 
that you understand how it works. If the prin- 
ciples are clear to you, then consider whether or 
not the application of those principles as shown, 
will produce the results essential to successful incu- 
bation — if, in your opinion, they will accomplish 
all that the manufacturer claims for his machine. 

If the construction and principle are correct, the 
maker can have no good reason for failing to show 
them plainly to his prospective customers. 

When a manufacturer fails to show and explain 
the interior work and construction of an incubator, 
you will be pretty safe in your conclusion that 
either he has nothing good to show, or he has 
something bad to conceal. These are enlightened 
days, and the average man or woman readily 
understands the artist's lines when accompanied by 
simple explanations. 

Do not be deceived by handsome appearance, 

.# big claims, or miraculous testimonials. Beauty is 

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no objection, if it is not made a substitute for util- 
ity. Good testimonials are highly valuable, but 
look into them — write to a few of the persons who 
give them. 

Do not be deceived by low prices. The best 
article cannot be made, much less sold, at the price 
asked for the poor or bad one. A house is a house, 
yet no one expects to get as good a house for 
$1,500, as he can build for $3,000. No one will 
say that one house is just as good as another, 
regardless of plan, material or cost. 



DON'T MAKE A FAILURE 



For the sake of a few dollars on the start. 
So many people say, "Well, I will buy a cheap 
incubator and try the hatching business, and if 
I succeed with it, I can then buy a better one." 
This is false economy. It is like buying a poor 
horse to go a long journey. The horse fails to 
carry you to your destination, and when he gives 
out on the way, you must either buy a better horse, 
or walk. 

Nine out of every ten failures in poultry raising 
are due to false economy at the start. No farmer 
who knows anything about harvesting would use a 
scythe in preference to a modern self binding 
reaper because the scythe is cheaper. Nor will he 
buy any but the very best reaper, even if it does 
cost a little more than some others. It is true 
economy to have the best and to start right. 
17 



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THE BEST SIZE INCUBATOR. 



Many beginners are undecided as to what sized 
incubator to get. If we wanted a capacity of 300 
eggs would get three incubators of 100 eggs capa- 
city each ; if 600 capacity, three of 200 eggs each ; 
if 750, three of 250 each ; if 1200 capacity, three 
of 400 each ; if 1800 capacity, three of 600 eggs 
each. This is much better than getting one large 
incubator for all the eggs. It costs more for the 
several smaller machines than for one large one for 
all the eggs, but the advantages are : You can 
have fresher eggs for each incubator, you can sort 
the eggs if you have large quantities, and select 
those with shells of "same kind and thickness for 
each incubator ; you can place duck, turkey or 
goose eggs in separate machines, or use a different 
machine for each variety of hens' eggs. You can 
keep a record of each kind and quality ; you will 
learn more about the amount of moisture for each 
class of eggs, and will soon become able to hatch 
all kinds of eggs equally well. If you make a 
mistake you will discover it more easily and can 
rectify it more readily ; the result of a mistake or 
an accident will not be as expensive, and you will 
have a better chance to retrieve any loss which you 
may sustain through accident, carelessness or 
neglect of rules in hatching, for it would hardly be 
likely to affect but one machine, and as that one 
would only contain one-third of your full quota of 
eggs, you would have the other two-thirds left 
even if all in one machine were ruined, and you 
18 



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would not be apt to repeat the performance (or f 
n'on-performance) with either of the other two I* 
incubators. &> 

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HOT AIR OR HOT WATER 2 



A question which is sure to confront the beginner 
(and the old poultryman who determines to use 
the incubator instead of hens) is : Which is prefer- 
able, a hot air or hot water incubator? 

No one can answer that question better than 
yourself, if you will just look into it, and make 
good use of your natural intelligence. Hear 
argument on both sides, but examine the evidence, 
look at the apparatus, there is nothing hidden, 
mysterious, or complicated about it. The prin- 
ciples are as simple as addition and subtraction. 
You do not have to ask a professor of mathematics 
whether or not two and two make four, or which 
is the greater number, one or two ? Neither will 
you have to depend upon any man's advice in this 
matter, if you have ordinary intelligence and the 
self confidence which every man must have to 
succeed in the poultry (or any other) business. 

The reason that so many intelligent persons go 
wrong in this matter is that they do not stop to 
think. 

There is so much nonsense written and pub- 
lished, that the man who will not do his own think- 
ing and reasoning will almost certainly get bewild- 
ered. For instance a writer in a prominent poultry 
19 



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paper recently wrote advocating hot water incu- 
bators " because hot water heat is moist" and sug- 
gested that it was the duty of those possessing 
" knowledge" to give it to the fraternity through 
the columns of the poultry papers (and the editor 
published the nonsense without a word of com- 
ment). 

In another poultry journal an advertiser of a hot 
water incubator, says : '* Hot air is necessarily 
foul air. Hot water is next to hot blood, the hen's 
life giver to eggs." 

Did you ever hear such philosophy ? 

We do not need a sage to tell us that — " hot 
water is moist" — but we have yet to discover an 
incubator in which the eggs are placed in the 
water. Neither do we know of one in which the 
hot water tank is open to the egg chamber ; nor 
would a single chick hatch in an incubator with 
the heater tank so opened. 

Nor have we any knowledge of blood sweating 
hens. 

The heating tanks of all hot water incubators 
are both air-tight and water- tight as far as they 
connect with the egg chamber, and if they never 
leaked, not a single drop of moisture would ever 
get into the egg chamber from that source ; and 
except in those machines having a top opening or 
tube from the hot water tank, in which a float or 
other device is used to operate on a regulator lever 
or valve, by expansion of water in said tank, the 
water in the tank would never evaporate or grow 
less, but would suffice for running the machine 



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through one or a dozen hatches, except it were 
necessary (as is frequently the case) to draw off a 
quantity when overheated and to add cold water 
to hasten the reduction of temperature. 

But as far as supplying moisture to the eggs — 
not a drop is supplied by the hot water tank. 
There is no moisture from the hot water / Now 
where is the ' ' moist heat ? " 

How do all hot water incubators, as well as all 
hot air incubators, get their moisture ? 

From open pans above or below the eggs. 

If moisture oozed from the hot water tank there 
would be no necessity for moisture pans. 

Now let us look at the hot air incubator. It has 
a heater over the eggs, just as the hot water 
machine has. You can call it a tank or a reser- 
voir, and it is perfectly air-tight in relation to the 
egg chamber. The egg chamber is heated by 
radiation from the lower surface of this tank or 
reservoir, and it gives just as much moisture to 
the eggs as does the heat which radiates from the 
lower surface of the hot water tank — which is 
none whatever / Neither can it give any fumes, 
because neither gas nor water can penetrate the 
metal radiator which has no opening whatever into 
the egg chamber. The heat or hot air does not 
pass from the lamps to the egg chamber any more 
than it does in the hot water incubator. 

The moisture is supplied from open pans above 
or below the eggs, just the same as it is in the hot 
water machine. 

Now in the face of these facts is it not ridicu- 



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lous, not to say insulting to the intelligence of 
poultrymcn, to assert that the heat from a hot 
water tank is moist heat. 

We will go farther and say that the best hot 
water incubators use moisture pans with from four 
to ten times the area of evaporating surface used 
in the modern hot air incubator. If the heat from 
the hot water tank is moist, why use more water 
in the egg chamber than is used in the hot air 
machine? 

Now, let us see what logic there is in the asser- 
tion that "hot air is necessarily foul air," when 
applied to an incubator. 

The egg chamber of a modern hot air incubator 
contains atmospheric air which is drawn into it 
from the room in which the machine stands, 
through ventilators having no connection whatever 
with the heat reservoir, and the heat reservoir has 
no opening whatever into the egg chamber. The 
bottom of the heat reservoir is sheet metal and 
forms the top or ceiling of the ^gg chamber. 

When the lamps are lighted the latent heat in 
the oil is gradually evolved, and passes up through 
the fire- proof conductors into the reservoir. When 
a sufficient quantity of this heat or caloric accu- 
mulates in the reservoir — being supplied faster 
than it can pass out through the draft tubes of the 
reservoir, which is open to the outer air above it, 
it begins and continues to radiate from the metal 
bottom of the reservoir and is diffused throughout 
the egg chamber. Nothing passes through this 
metal radiator but the heat ; no air, no gas, no 



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odor— simply the mysterious agent which chem- 
istry has named caloric. 

Suppose we fill the heat reservoir with water, 
coffee, milk or wine, and heat the liquid say, to 
150 , what follows? Why the heat {caloric) 
radiates from the metal bottom of the reservoir 
and is diffused through the egg chamber, just as 
it does when the reservoir contains air, and this 
radiated caloric or heat mingles with the air in the 
egg chamber and is absorbed by the eggs until 
they and the air immediately surrounding them 
are heated to 102 , 103 or 104 , according to the 
desire of the operator. 

The air in the egg chamber thus becomes warm 
air or "hot air," and if there is good ventilation 
in the egg chamber, the hot air is not foul air. 

Now, what becomes of the assertion that "hot 
air is necessarily foul air." 

When it comes to the question of hot water 
heaters or hot air furnaces for heating houses, an 
entirely different principle is involved. Although 
you get no moisture at all from hot water pipes, 
you get pure heat from them ; but the hot air fur- 
nace is heated red hot or nearly so, and the current 
of air which passes over this superheated surface 
is burned, or loses a greater portion of its oxygen 
before it enters the room mingled with the heat, 
and it also has a chance to carry coal gas with 
it. The hot air of the house furnace passes 
directly from the furnace into the room. 

Not so with the hot air heater of the incubator, 
for it will probably be heated to about 150 and 
23 



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the air which passes up the lamp flues into the 
heater never comes in contact with the eggs, but 
keeps passing out the vents and valves of the 
heater itself. 

The temperature of the water in the hot water 
tank would be about the same if said tank was 
the same distance above the eggs. 

It does not require a profound intellect to com- 
prehend this, and persons who are deceived in the 
matter owe it to their own carelessness. 

If hot air is foul air, why do not some of those 
wise fellows try cold air in the egg chamber of 
their incubators ? 

The man who spoils his own affairs through 
ignorance has our sympathy, even if he does not 
deserve any ; but the man who undertakes to in- 
struct others in matters which he does not at all 
comprehend, is almost a rascaL 

The writer of a book for poultry raisers, pub- 
lished within the last three or four years — a man 
who poses as an expert in artificial hatching, and 
charges for his advice, says, in explaining his 
preference for hot water incubators over hot air 
machines : r 

" The reason for this, to our mind, is that the 
hot water gives more of a moist air, etc." 

We expect to hear of this man writing a book 
for farmers, advising the use of butterflies and 
grasshoppers — the butterflies to make butter and 
the grasshoppers to make grass. 

The advantage of the hot water tank in the 
incubator is, that when the water in the tank is 
24 



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heated it takes a long time for it to cool off, and 
it is thus a protection to the man who is too lazy 
to fill the lamps, for his eggs are not apt to cool 
off enough to kill the germs in them. But if he is 
too lazy to fill the lamps, he is apt to be too tired 
to go turn them down or add some cold water dur- 
ing the hot part of the day, and when he goes to 
look at the machine he finds the temperature 5 or 
io° too high. How about the advantage then? 
If this happens on an extra warm night, or while 
he is away from home, what becomes of the hatch? 
Which do you think most disastrous, underheat cr 
overheat ? We say overheat. 

The advantages of the hot air incubator are, that 
the heat or hot air can be turned away from and 
out of the hot air reservoir easily, quickly and 
automatically, without disturbing the condition of 
the egg chamber. The entire contents of the reser- 
voir can be ejected by change of current, and re- 
placed with cool air in a few minutes ; and by action 
of the automatic regulator the heat currents are 
again turned into the reservoir and the temperature 
raised therein to the desired degree. This is done 
by the action of a thermostat in the egg chamber, 
controlling to a certainty and quickly the temper- 
ature within the heat reservoir. This is an utter 
impossibility with the hot water tank, so that when 
it becomes overheated, as is often the case, you 
must either turn down the lamp and wait for the 
water in the tank to cool, draw off some of the hot 
water and pour in some cold, open a large venti- 
lator from the egg chamber and let the heat and 
25 



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moisture escape together, open the door and risk 
chilling the eggs, take out the eggs and sprinkle 
them with tepid water, or let the eggs cook. In 
a properly constructed hot air incubator (not one 
with single wall or thin walls) the heat is easily 
confined and controlled, being automatically sup- 
plied or cut off by the regulator, which acts as 
does the safety valve of a steam boiler. It also 
consumes less oil than the hot water machine. 

The disadvantages of the hot air incubator are 
that the lazy man who cannot look at it once in 
24 hours may let the lamps burn out and the 
machine cool down. Then, if somebody should 
deliberately put the lamps out, it would cool off, in 
the course of time. 

But how about if somebody deliberately (or 
otherwise) turned up the lamp of the hot water 
incubator, would it not go to the other extreme? 

The sage who says water in the heater tank is 
like the hot blood in the hen, knocks the " moist 
heat" theory in the head, for a setting hen does 
not sweat. Neither does a very warm dog. The 
overheated dog pants, and drops of moisture fall 
from his tongue ; an overheated hen also pants. 

Bat there is a time (we almost forgot to mention 
it) when the water tank gives moisture to the eggs, 
and that is when it springs a leak, which, in the 
majority of hot water machines, and especially 
cheap ones made by contract, is as likely to occur 
in the middle of a hatch as at the beginning or 
end — or may happen as easily at midnight as at 
daybreak. If you are on the spot just at the time 
26 



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and have another (empty) incubator heated up 
and ready, you can transfer the eggs to it, and 
send for a plumber or tinsmith at leisure. 

Another peculiarity of the water tank is that 
when the lamp does go out unexpectedly, either 
by reason of neglect to fill or trim, or from the 
clogging and sticking of the lamp trips used on 
most hot water machines, and the water gets 
cooled off, it takes a long time to get it heated 
again ; whereas, the temperature in the hot air 
reservoir can be raised from minimum to maximum 
in one-fourth the time. 

From the opening of the incubator exhibit at the 
World's Fair, Chicago, until the day before it 
closed, we had three hot air incubators there in 
constant operation, hatching chickens. : 

In the hottest weather all the other incubators 
in operation in the building were obliged to put out 
their lights at some period of the day, but the 
lights on our machines were never extinguished, 
from start to finish of the exhibition, except when 
the gas fixtures in the building were being repaired 
or altered by the authorities. A new guard once 
extinguished the light on a hot water incubator, 
about six o'clock in the morning, but as the oper- 
ator arrived soon after, no harm was done. This 
incident was made the stock of many good-natured 
jokes on the guard, and the nucleus of several 
funny newspaper .paragraphs. A certain hot water 
incubator concern (not the one whose light was 
put out) has made it the subject of a grand fairy 
tale, in which they make it appear that all the 
27 



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$ incubator lights were put out, that the men who 

were operating the three hot air machines admitted 

that their eggs were ruined, but that no injury was 

done the eggs in their own machine. As the lights 

on our machines were never put out by a guard, 

we never had any complaint or admission of the 

kind to make, nor did we ever hear of any other 

lights than the one noted being put out by the 

guard. 

4 

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4 

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The man who is in the poultry raising business 
for profit, will use every known means to make it 
a success. By a few marks upon the eggs he 
makes it possible to know all about each hatch, 
the causes of success or failure and the direct 
means by which to improve. 




Fig. 14. 

Fig. 14 shows one side of an egg marked for 
record. 2 indicates the month (February being 
the second) in which the egg was set ; 4 the day 
28 



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of the month ; 25 the day of the month when it is 
due to hatch ; T indicates that the egg was tested 
on the 5th or 6th day of incubation, and that it 
contains a strong live germ, as shown in Fig. 1, in 
article on testing eggs ; L indicates that the egg 
was tested again on the 10th day ; and 4 that the 
air space is about the same as shown in Fig. 4, in 
article on testing eggs. A different figure would 
indicate that the air space on 10th day corres- 
ponded with that shown by a Fig. of corresponding 
number. 




Fig. 15. 

Fig. 15 shows the opposite side of Fig. 14. A 
should correspond with the name of the party or 
yard which furnished the eggs ; S indicates a thick 
shell. If the letter T were substituted it would 
indicate a thin shell. 

We have said in another place that the different 
shells require different treatment to obtain the best 
results. You will notice that while, as a rule, dark 
shells are thicker than white ones, you will find 
some thin shells among the dark ones and some 
thick shells among the white ones. 
29 



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Fig. 16. 

Fig. 1 6 shows a different egg marked on the 
same plan of Fig. 14. 2-28 indicates that the egg 
was set on 28th day of 2d month (February 28th) ; 
3-20 that it is due to hatch on 20th day of 3d 
month (March 20th) ; D a doubtful or weakly fer- 
tilized egg when first tested on 5th or 6th day ; W 
that it has been tested on 10th day ; 8 that the air 
space on 10th day corresponds with that shown in 
Fig 8. 




Fig. 17. 

30 



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In placing eggs in the trays elevate the large end 
as shown in Fig. 17, so that the head of the chick 
will form in that end. If the head forms in the 
small end there are nine chances to one that it will 
never get out of the shell. 



TABLE FOE KEEPING RECORDS. 



The accompanying table will be found very use- 
ful for recording hatches, and such records will 
enable the poultryman to discover and explain in- 
telligently the causes of his successes or failures in 
hatches ; to anticipate and avoid the poor material, 
and to classify and properly treat that which he 
does use. In marking or recording air spaces 
make it as near as you can, but do not attempt to 
measure them all. 



31 



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RECORD OF HATCHES. 


Eggs from, 


A 

100 


B 
100 


C 
100 


D 

iOO 


0) 



cs 

"On 

ocT 

M 

"vrT 
~>o 

CO 


__l__l_ 


Number of eggs, 















Variety, .... 






L 

50 
50 
60 


M 

100 

5 


B 

100 

95 


PR 
100 

J? 

4 


Dark eggs, 








Light eggs, 








Thick shell, 








Thin shell, 








40 

"85 

5 

10 

7 


95 
90 

1 
7 
5 


5 

92 

2 

8 

~6 


Fertile, . . 








9o|^- 


Doubtful, . 








_5 

5 
5 

~8 

4 
90 

2 

10 
2 
19 


6 

On 

oT 

vo 
10 

cO 
CS 

M 


Tested out, 








Age of egg, 








Air space ioth h-, . 




8 

7 
4 


8 
4 


7 


Air space ioth D , . 




Air space 16th L., . 




Air space 1 6th D., . . 




11 

1 

10 
1 
18 


JJ7 

2 

2 
10 
2 

19 


11 

80 
10 

IT 
10 

10 

19 


Hatched strong, . . 




Day . 

Hygrometer, wet bulb 
dry ' ' 

" SPIRAL 


Hatched weak, .... 




Died about days, . . . 




Died about days, . . . 




Unfertile, 




13 

"85 


^89 


10 

"80 


90 


Per ct hatched F. E-, . 


32 



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COOLING THE EGGS. 



Cooling the eggs, or airing them, as it is gen- 
erally termed, is a very important part of incuba- 
tion, and careful attention to it will be repaid by an 
increased percentage and stronger chicks. 

"I do not need to cool the eggs," says some- 
one, <c my incubator has all the ventilation they 
need." It may have plenty or too much ventila- 
tion, yet for best results the eggs should be cooled 
once a day, beginning on the second day and con- 
tinuing to the eighteenth, inclusive. 

The hen leaves her nest once a day, if allowed, 
and in exceptional cases where she does not do so 
voluntarily, she should be taken off once a day. 
The hen that leaves and returns regularly to her 
nest, hatches much better than the one that does 
not. In moderate weather in the spring the hen 
does her best hatching. She leaves her nest for a 
limited time and returns ; the eggs do not get 
chilled, but are properly cooled. 

In hot weather the hen is often driven from the 
nest by lice or mites. The eggs get plenty cooling, 
but do not hatch well. This is partly due to 
neglect of the hen and to a lack of vitality in the 
eggs. It cannot be all laid to too much cooling, 
because eggs will stand considerable exposure in 
hot weather. And it is so with eggs in the incu- 
bator. They may be left out much longer in hot 
weather than in the spring or winter. In early 
spring and winter the hen sits closer ; she moves 
the eggs from centre to outside, and they are 
33 



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cooled quicker than in warm weather. When she 
leaves her nest once a day for food she returns 
quickly. The same course must be pursued with 
the incubator, i. <?., the eggs must not be exposed 
as long in cold as in warm weather. 

Once a day, beginning with the second and end- 
ing with the eighteenth day, the eggs should be 
cooled to about 8o° Fahrenheit, not cooler. This 
can be done after turning them in the morning. 
One soon learns to tell the degree of heat by lay- 
the hand on the eggs or by holding an egg against 
the face. When the surface of the egg indicates 
8o° the inside is of course warmer. 

The incubator should always be closed while the 
eggs are out cooling, for it is not desirable to cool 
the machine. When the hen leaves her nest she 
does not dive into the water or sit upon a cake of 
ice. When the eggs are out of the incubator it 
takes more heat to keep the egg chamber at the 
proper temperature, and the regulator, if it is a 
good one (and an incubator without a regulator is 
behind the times), will turn on extra heat, and 
when the cooled eggs are replaced, will turn on 
still more, automatically, which is turned off again 
in the same way when the egg chamber recovers 
its proper temperature. 

Nine-tenths of the successful users of incubators 
cool the eggs ; so do the manufacturers of incu- 
bators when they want to make a good hatch. 
Cooling the eggs is one of the important items in 
incubation, but not the only one, you will not suc- 
ceed if you neglect the others. 
34 



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TESTING EGGS. 

This is a very important part of the business, 
and if properly attended to will throw a flood of 
light upon many perplexing problems in natural 
as well as artificial incubation. It not only eluci- 
dates but proves the truth or fallaciousness of our 
theories in the line of hatching. 

Men are frequently heard to say that they never 
bother with testing eggs. That they cannot replace 
the unfertile eggs with others, and therefore noth- 
ing is gained. They are told by the best authori- 
ties that boi)ed eggs are not good food for chicks, 
and as for themselves, of course they would eat 
only fresh eggs. Then there is a risk of taking 
out hatchable eggs ; so they run all the eggs 
through together. They say that they can break 
the unhatched eggs when the hatch is over, and 
see which were unfertile — and who cares whether 
they were or were not fertile if they did not 
hatch ? 

To those men we can only repeat. "Where igno- 
rance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." 

To attain the best results it is absolutely necessary 
to test the eggs in process of incubation. If the 
eggs all come from one farm or yard, and they 
prove a large per cent, unfertile, weakly fertilized, or 
stale, you will notify the party from whom you got 
them, and he can look into the matter and rectify 
it, if he will, and afterwards serve you with vigor- 
ous fresh ones. If he will not do so, then you 
can avoid him, and procure better (or worse) ones. 

35 



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If the eggs are from your own stock, and you 
know that they are fresh, and they prove unfertile 
or lack strength, you will know it, and can pro- 
ceed at once to remove the cause, and thus save 
time, eggs, and complaints from your customers to 
whom you sell eggs for hatching. 

If you have several yards, you should mark the 
eggs from each yard so that you can tell which are 
the best and which the poorest, and then treat the 
stock in each yard according to the requirements 
indicated by the testing of their eggs. There is a 
cause for each imperfection, and you should dis- 
cover and remove it. 

You may test your eggs this month and find 
them all right ; next month they maybe all wrong, 
suppose that you wish to set two hundred eggs, 
and get several lots of eggs from different yards or 
persons, to make up the number. One or two lots 
may be first-class, while of other lots nine-tenths 
are unfertile and the balance too weak to hatch. 
If the separate lots were not marked you would 
condemn the whole lot and the parties from whom 
you bought them ; and if you did not test them, 
you would probably condemn the incubator or the 
hens. 

In selecting and marking eggs it is well to avoid 
extremely large or very small ones, odd shaped 
ones and those with cracked shells. 

In testing you can very often trace a number 

of unfertile eggs to a particular hen by a peculiarity 

in shape and a uniformity of size — that is where a 

considerable number of eggs of a uniform size all 

36 



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possess the same peculiarity of shape, you can be 
reasonably sure that they were all laid by the same 
hen. You can use that hen's eggs for market 
instead of putting them in the incubator next time 
(unless you remedy the defect in the bird), and 
leave room for better ones. 

Among the causes of unfertile and weakly fer- 
tilized eggs are an insufficient number of cocks for 
the hens, or, which is just as bad, too many cocks 
to a yard or colony : old or worn out cocks, ill 
conditioned or debilitated cocks ; overfat or aged 
hens ; too close confinement of breeding slock, 
lack of green food, too much meat, forced egg 
production by the use of condiments ; low vitality 
of stock, from neglect to feed properly or protect 
from the weather, or diseases. 

Stale eggs are almost as bad as unfertile ones. 
After an egg is eight days old it begins to weaken, 
both the germ and the sac or tissues which en- 
velope the yelk. The older the eggs are, the 
fewer the chicks that hatch, and the weaker are 
those which do hatch. The percentage of deformed 
chicks increases with the age of the eggs. 

As the yelk forms no part of the chick, but is 
absorbed or taken into the chick just before hatch- 
ing, and is its natural nourishment for the first 
twenty-four hours after hatching, it is important 
that the egg should be as fresh as possible when 
placed in the incubator. If the yelk should be 
stuck fast to the skin of the egg, the chick must 
die, although it may break the shell. 

Persons have written to us, saying that they 
37 



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have had from one to six chicks hatch on the 
second and third days after placing the eggs in the 
incubator ; that they knew the eggs were perfectly 
fresh, having taken them out of the nests each 
day, and that they would like us to explain the 
cause of the " premature " hatches. 

They were simply mistaken. There was no 
doubt that the eggs hatched at the times stated, 
but that they were all fresh laid could not be true, 
unless a miracle had been wrought. Human 
ingenuity has dispensed with the hen as an incu- 
bator, but it is and ever will be beyond human art 
or science to shorten the period of incubation. 
Newly laid eggs of certain breeds of vigorous 
fowls hatch from twelve to forty- eight hours earlier 
than eggs from some other breeds, or older eggs 
from the same fowls ; but that is natural, and can- 
not be changed by man. 

Those ''premature" eggs had certainly been 
under a hen or hens, or subjected to a heat of at 
least ioi° for from sixteen to seventeen days pre- 
vious to being placed in an incubator. 

Now, if a few of the eggs were sixteen or seven- 
teen days old, we may reasonably presume that 
some of the others were nearly as old, and it 
those which hatched on the second and third days 
had live chicks in them, might not some of the 
others have had dead chicks in them, chicks 
that had started and, after being taken from the 
nest, died before they were placed in the incubator ? 

If these eggs were tested on the fifth or sixth 
day, any large chicks would show, and they would 
38 



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ordinarily be taken for bad eggs, if dead ; if alive, 
they would be taken for eggs previously started. 
But if the germs had died at any time between the 
thirty-sixth hour and the tenth day, an inexperi- 
enced person would probably call them fertile 
eggs and let them go, then wonder why they did 
not hatch. This happens more frequently than is 
generally believed. Such eggs are easily avoided 
by using the tester before setting the eggs. 

Chilled, limed, scalded and cold storage eggs 
sometimes find their way into the incubator ; but 
persons should not allow themselves to be fooled 
so badly. 

While the majority of persons who have good 
incubators make good hatches, there are some 
who would make decidedly better ones if they 
would just post up a little on a few important points 
which are easily learned by practice of simple and 
inexpensive experiments. 

Few persons understand testing eggs properly. 
Some have a very imperfect tester ; some are 
unable to detect the fertile eggs closely — they can- 
not distinguish a dead germ from a live one, nor a 
weak from a strong one. 

All eggs should be tested on the fifth or sixth 
day ; at this test all clear or unfertile eggs should 
be removed. 

To become expert in testing eggs during incuba- 
tion, it is necessary to have a good tester. 

By the use of a good egg- tester and the engrav- 
ings shown here, any person can, with a little 
practice learn to test eggs rapidly and accurately ; 
39 



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the engravings show exactly how the eggs look in 
the tester. 

To become an adept at testing eggs for hatching 
one has only to use a good tester, his eyes and a 
little judgment. Break in separate saucers (care- 
fully) one which you suppose to be a good, strong, 
fertile egg; one which seems to be fertile, but 




A STRONG FERTILE EGG, 
On the fifth or sixth day, as shown with a good tester. 

weak ; one that is doubtful — that is, one which you 
cannot decide whether it is fertile or unfertile, and 
one that seems decidedly unfertile. Break one at 
a time, and examine it carefully, making note of it. 
This should be done on the fifth day, or at the first 
test. 

A strong, fertile egg will, on the fifth day, (tem- 
40 



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perature having been kept at 102 , 103 or 104 ) 
show a dark spot which will float and show veins 
running from it, looking somewhat like a spider ; 
a weaker one will show a spot but is cloudy look- 
ing and muddled. The above are supposed to be 
fertile. Those which look clear are unfertile. Do 
not mistake the yelk for the germ or chick. All 
unfertile eggs are not perfectly clear. By breaking 
a few tested eggs and studying their contents, carry- 
ing in your mind's eye (so to speak) the appear- 
ance presented through the shell prior to the 
breaking ; having broken an egg, say of the strong 
fertile ones, select another from the unbroken 
eggs, and see how it compares with the former. 
Then having opened a fertile but weak egg select 
another from the unbroken ones and see how well 
you can match the germ before you. Then break 
a few apparently clear and unfertile ones, and you 
will be surprised to find some fertile eggs among 
them if your tester is inferior, or you are careless. 
You will also be surprised to find how easy it is to 
train the eye to detect and classify minute things 
by a little systematic practice. 

There is decided economy in this egg-breaking 
business, for it will save eggs and chicks in the end. 
Do not blame the sitting hen or the incubator, 
unless you know that your eggs refresh as well as 
fertile. We would not have eggs for hatching 
that are over eight days old at any price. We 
would not use them if given to us. We prefer 
them not over five days old, and would like them 
«gj still better at or under two days old. 

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It is not hard to remember that fresh eggs from 
healthy hens, fertilized by vigorous cocks, must be 
used if we are to hatch a large percentage of 
strong, healthy chickens. 

Fig. i shows a strong fertile egg as seen in the 
tester on the fifth or sixth day. B, the dark spot, 
is the live germ ; A A, are the blood vessels extend- 




I 



AN EGG TO BE DISCARDED 

On the fifth or sixth day. Weak or imperfectly fertilized, as 
shown on the fifth or sixth day. 

ing out from it. This germ B, is seen by placing the 
e &g against the aperture of the tester and revolv- 
ing it between the thumb and finger until the side 
on which the germ has formed comes nearest the 
eye. The spot B, will be seen plainly, often sur- 
rounded by a small cloud, as shown ; the germ at 
this time is quite lively, and can be seen to move 
42 



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up and down. This is a strong, fertile egg, and 
should hatch under a good hen or in a good incu- 
bator. In a well fertilized egg the blood vessels 
should show plainly, but the germ is not always 
seen as plainly, varying with the color and thick- 
ness of the shell and the power of the tester used. 
C, shows'about the average air bulb in an egg on 







A STALE EGG. 

As shown on fifth or sixth day : clouded, doubtful ; many such 
should be broken. 

the fifth or sixth day of incubation, though it may 
vary according to the freshness of the egg, and 
some eggs have larger air bulbs than others. 

Fig. 2, shows a weak or imperfectly fertilized 
egg as seen in the tester on the fifth or sixth day. 
H, is an oblong or circular blood vessel which has 
43 






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started, but nothing more, there is no heart, nor 
any part of a chick started. This egg- will not 
hatch, but will decay if left in the hatcher. G, 
shows a small dark spot, a weak germ, without 
blood vessels, only partially fertilized ; it has died, 
after a start, and, of course, will not hatch. Both 
H and G, may sometimes be seen in the same egg. 
It will not hatch. F, the air bulb, may be seen in 
the same egg. The egg may be comparatively 
fresh, and yet show both G and H. See the follow- 
ing notes which explain why such eggs are found. 

Fig. 3, shows a stale egg, a clouded egg, a 
doubtful egg. A stale egg is generally distin- 
guished by the air space E, being very large on the 
fifth or sixth day, as shown in Fig. 3, though all 
stale eggs do not show a very large air space ; but 
when an egg does show it, it is very good proot 
the egg is stale. When an egg shows a clouded, 
muddled appearance as indicated by D (which gen- 
erally moves about when the egg is turned before 
the tester), it is certainly stale, and will not hatch. 
Do not confound the fresh egg which is not fertile 
with the stale egg ; in an unfertile fresh egg you 
can see the yelk, which will look somewhat darker 
than the rest of the egg, but does not look mud- 
dled. 

Fig. 4, shows a live egg on the sixteenth day. 
K, is the space occupied by the chick ; the lines 
I and J, show the air bulb, which may be on top 
or at the side, as indicated by the respective lines. 
This is about the average air space on the six- 
teenth day, but it will vary according to the thick - 
44 



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ness of the shell and age of the egg when set ; 
then some eggs are not as full as others. At this 
stage of incubation (sixteenth day) a live chick 
darkens the egg, except the air bulb, when seen 
with the tester, and by watching the line I or J, 
the chick may often be seen to move. 

Eggs should be tested in a warm room, one tray 
at a time. 




A LIVE EGG. 

The air space on the sixleenth day. 

The chick is harder to see after the seventh day, 
because the egg becomes more clouded by the 
growing chick. 

Note. In regard to G, in Fig. 2, "a partially 
fertilized germ" means one that from one of sev- 

45 



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eral causes was not strong enough to live and 
grow. Among those causes are cocks that are 
too old, an insufficient proportion of male birds 
for females ; old or debilitated hens, over-fat hens, 
too close confinement of breeding stock, etc. 

Again you may find G (Fig. 2), among eggs 
which you believe or know are not over a week 
old, and ordinarily the eggs were good and fertile. 
It frequently happens that an egg will remain in 
the nest, while several, or maybe a dozen hens lay 
there, and the succession of layers keep the egg 
warm enough to start incubation, or it may happen 
that some eggs may have been subjected to a heat 
of ioo°, in some warm place, unknown to or un- 
noticed by you. In either case, these eggs are 
taken from the nest or warm, corner to a cooler 
place, and kept a few days, or over night, until a 
sufficient number has been accumulated to set, they 
become cold, and the germ dies before they are 
put under the hen or in an incubator. 

In testing the first time, on the fifth or sixth day, 
a dead germ may be mistaken for a live weak germ, 
and if left in the incubator for three weeks would 
decay ; so it is always best to test the eggs again 
on the tenth day, and remove all that have been 
marked doubtful and prove not good. 

Some persons think it is just as well to leave all 
of them in until hatching is finished, but this is not 
right, the decaying eggs generate objectionable 
gases, and if broken are very offensive. A dead 
egg or an unfertile egg, does not contain the 
animal heat that live ones do, and are apt to have 
46 



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an undesirable effect upon the egg next to it, either 
under the hen or in the incubator. 

An unfertile egg — one which has not been im- 
pregnated, and in which life will never start or 
develop — is clear when shown at the tester. This 
egg under the powerful lens of a first-class tester, 
will show the yelk, which must not be mistaken 
for a doubtful or fertile egg. 

Use only the very best egg- tester. 



HOW THE CHICKS DEYELOP. 



Fig. 7 shows the heart and minute arteries and 
veins in a circle on the yelk which is enclosed in a 
thin sac. They are plainly seen by the naked eye 
when a strong fertile egg is carefully broken into a 




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♦gj 



saucer or plate, after thirty-six hours' incubation. It 
should be done in a warm room, and in a strong 
light, when the pulsations of the heart will continue 
from five to ten minutes, and may be counted. 
Blood can be seen in the veins, but very faintly. 
The veins gradually surround the yelk. The chick 
derives nourishment from the yelk during incuba- 




tion, and what is left of it is drawn into the 
abdomen just before hatching. 

Fig. 8 represents the interior of the incubating 
egg on the fifth or sixth day, when the live germ 
can be seen with a tester moving up and down and 
around, and will float to the top when the egg is 
laid on its side. In testing, the large end of the 
egg is held up, as in Fig. i, which shows exactly 
how the egg looks in the tester, through the shell. 
48 



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Fig. 8 is seen with shell partly removed, or with 
the egg broken into a saucer. 

Fig. 9 shows appearance on seventh to eighth 
day. 

Fig. 10 represents the tenth day, when eggs 
should be tested the second time. 

Fig. 1 1 shows the development on the fourteenth 




day. Notice the increased air space at the different 
stages. 

Fig. 12, the sixteenth day. 

Fig. 13, the eighteenth day, the yelk being 
nearly absorbed. 

Fig. 5 shows the egg from the nineteenth to the 
twentieth day, when the chick is breaking the 
shell. At this stage the yelk should be entirely 
absorbed. The chick turns around in the shell, 
breaking as it goes. 

49 



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Fig. 6 shows the shell parted and the chick 
ready to come forth. 

As the yelk is the principal nourishment of the 
chick during incubation, it is desirable that the egg 
be perfectly fresh as well as well fertilized. The 
last part of the yelk absorbed is food for the chick 
for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours after 
hatching. 




Stale eggs, though fertile, will not make hardy 
chicks ; if they do hatch, the percentage will be 
small. 

Break a few eggs that are not fresh, on a plate, 
and you will notice that in most of them the sac 
which confines the yelk will break and allow the 
yelk to mix with the white. A few which, being 
very carefully broken, retain the sac unbroken, 
50 



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present a mottled appearance and spread out flat, 
unlike the yelk of a fresh egg, which stands up and 
looks firm. 

If the yelk is not in first class condition it will 
not make a first-class chick. When eggs are stale 
many chicks will die in the shell on the seventeenth 
and eighteenth days of incubation, even when 
strongly fertilized. 




Deformed chicks are due to stale eggs, eggs 
from ill-conditioned stock, and overheat. Over- 
heat will sometimes cause the chicks to break the 
shell before the yelk is entirely absorbed, and if 
you help them out in that case they will die. 

Insufficient air space will prevent a chick from 
turning in the shell and from getting out. 

When eggs have been crowded and some of the 
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shells are broken almost around yet the chicks do 
not break out with the majority in due time, you 
may then pull the shell gently apart, but leave the 
chick to free itself; for a chick which cannot free 
itself is not worth keeping. 




52 



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ANIMAL HEAT. 

Animal heat during incubation is not noticeable 
until about the tenth day, though a fresh, strongly 
fertilized egg, having been subjected to a tempera- 
ture of 103 for thirty-six hours, and then broken 
in a saucer, will reveal a live, pulsating heart, the 
beats of which may be counted, and it will make 
about sixty before it stops or dies. 

As the animal heat increases less artificial heat 
is required to keep up the proper temperature in 
the egg chamber. On this account it is generally 
necessary to occasionally adjust the regulator a 
little the last week of incubation ; but the lamp 
flame or flames should be gradually (a little at a 
time) lowered if it appears that you are using more 
flame than is necessary to supply just a little sur- 
plus heat. 

Although it does not require as much artificial 
heat during the latter part of the hatch to keep up 
the right temperature, it should be distinctly under- 
stood, that the temperature must be kept up just 
the same as at the first part until every hatchable 
egg is hatched. [See When Hatching.] 



WHEN HATCHING. 



When the chicks are breaking and coming out 
of the shells, remember that the doors of the incu- 
bator should not be opened but twice in a day, to 
take out chicks that have hatched and are dry. 

54 



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Also remember that when you take out a lot ot 
chicks you take with them a lot of animal heat, 
and you should raise the lamp flame a little, for 
the temperature must be kept up to the same point 
until the hatch is finished, if you want the best 
results. 



DEAD IN THE SHELL. 



Why do chicks die in the shell ; what is the 
cause of it ? 

This question is asked again and again in all the 
poultry papers. It is asked not only in regard to 
those that die in the mechanical or artificial incu- 
bator, but those also that die in the shell while 
under the sitting hens, ducks, turkeys, geese, etc. 
But the person who has just commenced running 
an artificial incubator, loses sight of this fact, and 
thinks that if some eggs hatch, every in egg the 
machine should hatch, or that certainly all eggs 
which start to incubate should bring out chicks. 

While in a great many instances the majority of 
cases of " dead in the shell ' ' may be justly charged 
to the incubator or the sitting hen, it is not always so. 

Again, though there are first-class incubators 
which do hatch well, it must not be taken for 
granted that all incubators are good. There are 
good and bad incubators as there are good and 
bad hens and good and bad eggs. 

The fact that some hens steal their nest and bring 
out a chick from every egg, or do nearly that well, 
55 



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«6 

*S 

*w is no proof that it was on account of having had 

•6 their own way. Other hens steal their nest and 
♦si only hatch one or two chicks ; sometimes they fail 
*& to hatch any. A hen that steals her nest generally 
3 sits on the eggs laid by herself. If her eggs are 
strongly fertilized, and she is a good sitter and has 
a good place to sit, she will bring off a good hatch. 
If the eggs are not well fertilized she does not 
make a good hatch, but brings out perhaps six, 
two, or no chicks. The unhatched eggs may 
prove all unfertile, or most of the chicks may be 
dead in the shell. 
What is the cause ? 

On the first event no impregnation ; in the sec- 
ond, imperfect or weak fertilization. A bad sitter 
or poor incubator might cause the same result with 
good eggs. 

When a good, quiet hen sits steadily on fifteen 
fertile eggs and hatches seven of them, is it not 
reasonable to suppose that the other eight must 
have differed somehow, in quality, at the begin- 
ning, or they, too, would have hatched? All 
having been subjected to the same conditions and 
treatment, why did not all hatch, or else all fail to 
hatch — all being fertile or containing the germ 
of life? 

The answers to this question are legion ; but 
most writers agree that it was lack of vigor in the 
germ, traceable to the parent stock, or to a mal- 
condition of the laying stock, which produced the 
eggs. Had all the eggs failed to hatch we might 
reasonably suspect that the sitting hen had neglected 
56 
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♦Si 



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her nest ; but as seven of them hatched, the sit- 
ting hen is clear of blame, for the seven chicks 
could not have been produced without the favor- 
able conditions for incubation to which they were 
subjected together with those which failed to hatch. 
Is it not plain that something was wrong with the 
eggs which contained chicks, in all stages of 
development, but failed to hatch ? If the incu- 
bator (hen) was wrong, none would have hatched ; 
if all of the eggs were right, all would have hatched. 
Now, the causes of unfertile and imperfectly fer- 
tilized or weak eggs are numerous, but easily 
removed or guarded against, provided we know 
what they are. 

Too close inbreeding will make weak offspring. 
Inbreeding is excellent to a limited degree, but 
must not be carried beyond a few generations, it 
stamina and vigor are to be retained. 

Over-fat hens do not produce eggs that will 
hatch well ; no matter how good the male may 
be, the germs do not seem to receive the proper 
nourishment to develop strength to break out of 
prison, even if they grow to full size. 

Stale eggs, however vigorous they may have 
been, do not hatch well. 

Eggs may be both fertile and fresh, yet lack the 
vigor required to develop a chick. 

Hens over two years old take on fat too easily, 
besides losing qualities requisite to good breeders. 
This is the rule. Of course there are exceptions ; 
but you had better go by the rule than by the 
exception. 

57 



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^^^^^i^^^^eJs^^^^i^^^^^e&^^^^^^^JE^^^sbtlselsjJsdSi:!; sis sis sis sj: &/ 



Some cocks retain a fair amount of vigor and 
procreative power after the second year, but nine 
out of ten do not. 

If you want eggs to hatch well and to get the 
maximum profit from your poultry business, kill 
all the males and females at two years of age. 
Don't keep a fowl simply because it is fine look- 
ing. You cannot afford to keep simply orna- 
mental birds in your flocks. 

Fowls in too close confinement lose their vigor, 
and that, together with the practice of keeping 
fowls that are too old, is what causes nine- 
tenths of the "dead in the shell" cases which 
owe their origin to the breeding stock. Some 
people think a yard ten by twelve feet is large 
enough for the accommodation of a dozen fowls. 
They must have a reasonable amount of exercise. 

As there are two classes of poultry raisers, there 
are two ways to effect a remedy. 

The man who must raise his poultry on a limited 
area of ground, should keep fewer fowls. Is it not 
better to keep one hundred fowls from which you 
can produce eggs that will hatch from seventy-five 
to ninety-five per cent, of the fertile ones (seventy- 
five per cent, of all being fertile), than to house, 
feed and care for two hundred fowls to produce 
eggs of which fifty per cent, are unfertile, and only 
from thirty to forty-five per cent, of the fertile eggs 
hatch? Wriggle around it as you please, you 
cannot disregard this advice and succeed. 

Those who have large tracts of land, but, because 
of keeping several breeds or varieties of fowls, are 
58 



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obliged to keep them in yards, should either 
enlarge their yards beyond (apparently) all reason, 
or at least beyond any size you ever saw before, 
and allow plenty of range for exercise and cleanli- 
ness, or reduce the number of varieties, and give 
each yard of fowls an extra grassy yard to pasture 
in for two hours each day; or, better still, keep 
but one variety and make kindling wood of your 
fences. Colonize your flocks on the Stoddard 
"no fence" plan, and you will have eggs that, 
with proper assignment and division of males and 
females (fowls), will show up ninety per cent, of 
fertility, and, in good incubators, produce from 
eighty to ninety- eight per cent, of strong, healthy 
chicks. 

How do we know ? 

We have done it. The proof of the pudding is 
in eating it. 

Now let us look at a few other causes of chickens 
dying in the shell ; for you know it is quite possible 
to kill a vigorous germ or even a full grown chick 
by improper treatment. A poorly contrived incu- 
bator or a bad hen can easily destroy the life in the 
shell at any stage of incubation ; or a careless or 
headstrong operator of a good incubator can spoil 
the hatch by what may seem to him a very insig- 
nificant deviation from the instructions of the 
maker of the machine. 

Too much or too little moisture, heat or ventila- 
tion may ruin a hatch. Lack of moisture at the 
time it is needed, or excess of moisture when none 
is needed will injure or destroy life in the hatcher. 
59 



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If the machine is deficient in any of these particu- 
lars, do not use it, but get one that you can depend 
upon. 

You will also remember that eggs of various 
breeds vary considerably in shell, some shells 
being thin and porous, some thick, yet porous, 
while others are thick and dense or hard, and still 
others are hard and thin. 

The treatment of these various shells is of 
importance, but will be discussed under the head 
of " moisture." 

Chilling the eggs, especially during the last 
part of the hatch or while chicks are breaking the 
shell, causes many to die in the shell. See article 
on testing eggs. 

Right here a little plain talk may be of some 
value. 

In almost every poultry paper you will find com- 
plaints and queries about chicks dying in the shell. 
The correspondents, as a rule, wish to know the 
cause and the remedy. If the editor knows the 
cause he does not hesitate to prescribe a remedy ; 
but there is where the trouble comes in. If we call 
in a physician to treat a case of illness, we give him 
an exact history of the case and all the symptoms 
and particulars ; otherwise he could not prescribe 
to our advantage. 

Are all poultrymen careful to do likewise when 
they ask advice from a poultry editor or expert, Qr 
incubator manufacturer ? 

We say no ! Many of them do not know, or fail 
to mention the fact that a visitor ' ' monkeyed ' ' with 
60 



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ft- 



the regulator, or that on one certain day they for- 
got to fill the incubator lamps and the lights were 
out for fourteen hours ; or that they forgot about 
turning the eggs, or left them out to air while attend- 
ing something else, and they got chilled ; or that 
they forgot to put in moisture at the proper time ; 
that one of the children slipped into the incubator 
room and turned the lamp up or down, or put it 
out ; or that a neighbor, who was looking at the 
machine, forgot to close the doors of the incubator ; 
or that the attendant accidentally set a tray, stick 
or some other trifle on the top of the machine in 
such a manner as to cover or rest on the closed 
valve of the heat escape, and the temperature got 
up to no° before it was discovered. It is folly to 
omit or conceal these facts when they are known 
to the party who asks advice, because it cheats him- 
self out of the chance of obtaining the remedy he 
seeks. 

As we have intimated above, many poultrymen 
fail to give exact details, either because they have 
failed to see or notice some of them, or because 
they think they are not important ; and while we 
cannot advise them with as good effect as if we 
knew the real state of affairs, they cannot be said 
to deliberately deceive. 

But what about that class of individuals who are 
so foolish as to deliberately lie when presenting 
their case of failure to the maker of the incubator, 
which they happen to be using ? What help can a 
man hope to get, who, having bought a lot of 
store eggs which produce forty per cent, of weak 
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chicks and sixty per cent, dead in the shell, in his 
incubator, into which he placed all the eggs he 
bought, when he writes to the maker of the 
machine as follows: "My hatch was forty per 
cent, of sickly looking chicks, and the balance of 
the eggs had dead chicks in them — some seeming 
to have died on the tenth day and others at various 
stages of development, many being full grown and 
just ready to hatch. I cannot understand it, as the 
same eggs placed under hens hatched ninety- eight 
per cent. I followed your directions to the 
letter." 

Now if the manufacturer knows from years of 
severe test that his machine will always hatch a 
good per cent, oihaichable eggs, every time, when 
operated by his directions, he also knows to a cer- 
tainty that his correspondent either failed to oper- 
ate the machine as directed, or that his statement 
about hatching some of the same lot of eggs under 
hens is false. He knows it as certainly as the 
painter would know that we were speaking falsely 
if we told him that by mixing equal proportions of 
red and blue we produced green. Suppose we 
did write such a statement to a painter, and asked 
his advice, assuring him that our neighbor had 
used the same colors and produced purple. Would 
he not know beyond a possibility of a doubt that 
either we were color blind, or liars, or fools, or that 
we thought him a fool when we presumed that he 
would not know any better than to believe the 
statement. 

All the advice he could give us would be to dis- 
62 



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card the yellow (which we called red) and replace 
it with red if we wished to produce purple by mix- 
ing with blue. And so would the maker of the 
good incubator have to tell his correspondent to 
hunt up a lot of fresh eggs from a place where the 
breeding stock is healthy, vigorous and mated with 
good proportion of males. 

Other parties who have really first-class hatch- 
able eggs, imagine that they can improve on the 
directions which are sent with the incubator (not 
having given those directions one fair trial) and 
will run the machine to suit themselves, and when 
they kill a lot of chicks in the shell, condemn 
either the eggs or the incubator. If they write for 
advise, they tell the truth about the eggs, but omit 
to mention the fact that they paid no attention to 
directions. Some of them, we regret to say, will 
even assert that they did follow the directions. 

These persons are as foolish as the man who, 
suffering with cholera morbus, would tell the 
physician that he had toothache. 



PERIODS OF INCUBATION. 



Chickens, twenty-one days ; ducks, twenty-eight 
days; geese, thirty days; turkeys, twenty- eight 
days ; Guinea fowls, twenty-five days ; pea fowls, 
twenty-eight days ; pheasants, twenty-five days ; 
partridges, twenty-four days ; ostriches, forty to 
forty- two days. 

In connection with the above table we should 
remember that a strictly fresh laid egg will hatch 
63 



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several hours earlier than a stale one, and that the 
fresh eggs of some breeds of the same species of 
fowls will also hatch from twelve to forty- eight 
hours earlier than those of other breeds, under the 
same conditions. 

Some hens sit closer on the eggs and keep the 
temperature more regular than others do. These 
hens generally bring off their chicks in due time. 
Other hens are poor sitters, do not settle down on 
the eggs nicely, and frequently vacate the nest- 
Such hens are sometimes one or two days later 
than schedule time in completing their hatch. 

The same principle applies to incubators. Those 
which maintain an even condition of requisite heat, 
moisture and ventilation, will, if the eggs are all 
right, complete the hatch on time ; while the irreg- 
ular machine, now hot and then cold, now dry 
and then moist, will of course be behind time. 



MOISTURE IN HATCHING. 



How much moisture should be used in an incu- 
bator ? 

Why not ask, " How much lumber will it take 
to build a house?" The question is as compre- 
hensive. 

The question of how much moisture should be 
used in an incubator, never has been fully and cor- 
rectly answered. 

"Oh, yes, it has!" exclaims somebody, "Mr. 
A. says he uses no moisture at all ; B., none until 
the fourth day ; C, none until the seventh ; D., 
64 



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none until the tenth ; E., until the sixteenth ; F., 
until the nineteenth. G. uses water surface equal 
to three-fourths the area of the egg chamber ; H., 
five-eighths; I., one-half; J., three-eighths; K., 
one-fourth; L., one-fifth ; M., one-twelfth. N. will 
evaporate twelve quarts of water in the egg cham- 
ber during one hatch ; O. will evaporate one pint. 

Any one of the above may be exactly right for 
some incubator, at some particular time, in some 
certain place, climate or season, and with certain 
kind of eggs, and it may never, in the experience 
of the operator, be right again. 

How then are we to know the amount of moisture 
to use ? If it is right at one time, why not always ? 

It might be right always with one particular 
incubator and the same kind of eggs, if the tem- 
perature and humidity of the outside atmosphere 
were always the same ; but you know that is not 
the case. You cannot find two periods of three 
weeks each in which the twenty-one days of one 
will even average the same as the twenty- one days 
of the other, in any location, in a lifetime. There- 
fore there must be a vast difference in hatching, 
both with incubators and with hens. 

For instance, we take a hot water incubator 
which has an opening valve for the escape of hot air 
from the egg chamber when the heat rises above a 
given point. No matter what size the opening 
may be, how large or small the moisture pans, or 
when the moisture pans are filled, on a hot day or 
when the lamp flame has been a little too high, 
this valve or escape will open, and from ten to 
65 



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twenty times as much air will be circulated through 
the egg chamber as there was the day previous or 
on a cooler day, and the next day it may be more 
or it may be less. 

If there is no water in the moisture pans on the 
very warm day, then there is from ten to twenty 
times the amount of evaporation from the eggs ; if 
the pans are filled, you will not have the same 
amount of moisture when the valve is open as you 
have when it is closed. 

Let us suppose, for argument sake, that we 
have more moisture in the egg chamber with the 
valve closed than with it open ; then, when the 
valve opens to cool off the egg chamber, the 
moisture escapes with the heat, and we have from 
ten-fold to twenty-fold reduction of moisture on the 
hot day, or when the machine is overheated. 

But suppose we say that when the valve is open 
there is from ten to twenty times as much water 
evaporated as there would be with it closed, and 
that this water or moisture passes over the eggs ; 
then we have practically from ten to twenty times 
as much moisture with the valve open as we have 
with it closed. 

Clearly we cannot have the same amount of 
moisture with an open valve as with it closed— no 
matter which condition of valve gives the most, 
and, as this valve may open and close once a day 
or fifty times a day, how is it possible to maintain 
an even condition or degree of moisture in an egg 
chamber which is thus " regulated ?" 

Then why use a moisture gauge? 
66 



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A moisture gauge of the best make will show 
that the humidity of the egg chamber fluctuates as 
we have stated, under the said conditions. 

Wherever there is a circulation of air in the egg 
chamber — and there must be a circulation of fresh 
air to hatch successfully — there will be some varia- 
tion of humidity, because the humidity of the out- 
side atmosphere changes, and it is this outside air 
which furnishes the fresh air for the egg chamber ; 
but with the valve closed the variation is reduced 
to a minimum degree. 

The modern hot air incubator has no use for the 
big trap-door valve opening from the egg chamber 
of most hot water machines, because the heat is 
controlled in the heater or hot air reservoir before 
it reaches the egg chamber ; but it has a circula- 
tion of fresh air in the egg chamber by means of 
bottom ventilators and small outlet at top. These 
inlets and outlet are always open and always the 
same, so that the variation is reduced to a mini- 
mum, being about equal to the variation in the best 
hot-water machines with its valve closed. 

The variation of humidity in the best hot- water 
machine with closed valve and in the best hot-air 
machine just as it always is, is from ten to twenty 
times less than when a large valve is being opened 
and closed from the egg chamber every now and 
then, as described, and the causes for the minimum 
variation which cannot be entirely overcome are 
two, the variation in humidity of outside atmos- 
phere and the variation of temperature of outside 
air. 

67 



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We all know that heat ascends. As long as the 
air in the egg chamber is warmer than that outside, 
the heat of the egg chamber will seek an outlet, 
and the colder the outside temperature the faster 
the current of air will circulate through the incu- 
bator (the greater the volume of air that will pass 
through in a given time), but the moment the out- 
side temperature gets as warm as that of the egg 
chamber the current ceases. Then it follows that 
more air passes through, the egg chamber on a cold 
day than on a warm one, consequently there is 
more moisture supplied from the outside on a cool, 
damp day than on a warm, dry one. 

When you look at all these facts and think ol 
the difference in incubators, the wonderful variety 
of climates and altitudes on this vast continent, the 
different kinds of shells which envelop the eggs — 
thick, hard shell, thin, hard shell, thick porous, 
and thin porous — each requiring different treat- 
ment (the hard shell requiiing more moisture than 
the porous shell), you will appreciate the difficulty 
of giving a direct answer to the question of 
" How much moisture should be used in an incu- 
bator? " It is impossible, in the ordinary instruc- 
tions which accompany an incubator, to give 
directions which will fit every case in every 
locality, therefore the incubator manufacturer who 
would conscientiously perform his duty to each of 
his patrons must have an a ( tual knowledge, 
which can only be acquired by actual experience, 
of the action and requirements of his own incubator 
in the various altitudes and climates of this country 
68 



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under the various conditions of the seasons. 
Having gained this experience he can then give 
directions with each incubator to suit the locality 
to which it is sent. These directions would (or 
should) be such as will give the best average 
results with that particular machine in that 
locality. 

For the benefit of new acquaintances who may 
wish to inquire if we practice what we preach, we 
will state that during the years of our experiment- 
ing we paid our compliments personally to the 
chief points of interest lying between the Atlantic 
and Pacific oceans, the great Northern lakes and 
the Gulf of Mexico — not making a flying trip, but 
spending months and sometimes years in climates 
and altitudes of peculiar interest to poultrymen 
who practice artificial incubation and brooding. 

As we have said, follow the printed directions 
sent with the incubator, and then at your leisure 
study and experiment for yourself. If you find 
that the manufacturer's directions give satisfactory 
results, the knowledge you have acquired from 
study and experiment will enable you to see why 
they do ; and if, on the contrary, they do not 
satisfy you, you may then be able to improve upon 
them. 

Someone will say, "What a lot of fuss about 
moisture ! Let me give you the whole thing in a 
nutshell. Find out just what degree of humidity 
is needed in the egg chamber for each week or 
day, make slide covers for your moisture pans, 
place a hygrometer or moisture gauge in the egg 
69 



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chamber and hang up your moisture schedule beside 
the machine. When you want more moisture slide 
open the covers, and when you want less, close 
them. Isn't that simple ? " 

Yes, dear friend, wiser heads than yours or ours 
thought of that years ago, but it would not work 
then, and it will not work now. . 

Why? 

For various reasons ; among them : the Great 
Ruler of the Universe will not permit us to slide 
the covers of His moisture pans ; and while we are 
obliged to circulate fresh air in the egg chambers 
of our machines, we are obliged to have it more or 
less humid or dry, just as it comes from the breath 
of nature. 

The hygrometer is useful to experiment with, pro- 
vided it is a good one, but few of those which are 
sold to poultrymen are reliable. 

Still someone says, ''Well, I know that the 
humidity of the atmosphere varies some, but I still 
believe I can work it with the moisture gauge and 
the sliding covers on moisture pans. " 

Very well, we will ask you for one demonstration, 
and if you make that satisfactory, we will ask for 
one or two more — but one will probably be all you 
want at a time. 

Let us suppose that you conclude that you want 
thirty degrees of moisture in the egg chamber the 
first week, thirty- five the second and part of the 
third, with ninety degrees from the pipping of the 
first egg ? All right. We will take for granted 
that your gauge is correct. Well, here we are at 
70 



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the beginning of the first week. You have not 
yet put any water in your pans but your moisture 
gauge indicates sixty- five degrees of humidity, and 
your thermometer one hundred and three degrees 
Of temperature. What is the matter ; why don't 
you reduce the humidity ? You place another 
moisture gauge in the room where you operate 
your incubator, and you find that the humidity 
there is ninety degrees. You hang a gauge in the 
open air out of doors and it registers ninety-five 
degrees. You only want thirty degrees in the egg 
chamber ; how are you going to reduce it to thirty ? 

There are some places in which, at certain times, 
some kinds of eggs «an be hatched without addi- 
tional moisture, in certain incubators, but the 
attempt would result in failure at other seasons. 

It is surprising how little some manufacturers of 
incubators know about moisture. When you 
attend a show where incubators are on exhibition 
question the several exhibitors on moisture. The 
machines are generally managed by the manufact- 
urers or inventors — or the purchasers of some 
almost defunct patents. 

While exhibiting at the World's Fair, Chicago, 
'93, we were astonished at the replies of some 
of the manufacturers and exhibitors when asked 
"why do you use moisture? What is it for?" 
One said, "Oh, the hen sweats and moistens the 
eggs, that is the reason. ' ' Another said, ' ' We 
imitate the hen ; she goes off in the grass and gets 
the dew on her feathers and dampens the eggs ; we 
must supply it.' \ Another said, * ' We use moisture 
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to rot the shell of the eggs. ' ' Another, ' ' The 
evaporation of the water purifies the air." 

We supposed that everybody knew that moisture 
is used in an incubator to prevent undue evapora- 
tion of the egg, and to keep the skin which lines 
the shell from becoming dry and tough while the 
chicks are breaking the shells. 



HATCHING DUCKS. 



Duck eggs require about the same treatment, 
during incubation, as hen eggs, except that the 
addition of moisture is deferred one week. Duck- 
lings are longer getting out of the shell after 
it is broken than chicks are — from twenty-four to 
forty-e'ght hours is the time they require to work 
their way out. If, after waiting forty-eight hours 
after the eggs are pipped and ducklings are not free, 
you may help them out gently. There is not as 
much danger in thus helping them as there is in 
assisting chicks out. A chick which cannot free 
itself from the shell is not worth saving, but a duck- 
ling is. Ducks and ducklings should have water 
when eating and water to drink at all times. Keep 
ducklings from bathing or getting wet until feath- 
ered. Celery fed to ducks one week before fattening 
is supposed to improve their flavor. In killing ducks 
hang them up by the legs and extend the head or 
bill to prevent soiling the feathers. With a sharp 
knife cut across the back part of the throat and up 
into the brain. Ducks are easier picked when 
72 









*&. 



scalded. After picking, put them in ice water until 
thoroughly cooled. N. B.— Make the drinking ves- 
sel deep enough for the duckling to wet his nostrils, 
or they will become clogged with dirt or soft food 
and make him sick. 



HATCHING GEESE. 



Geese develop as well in the incubator as under 
geese or hens, but goslings are not very dexterous 
in breaking the shell, hence many are lost, because 
few persons know how to help the process. When 
the hatch is due hold the egg in a strong light 
and try to see where the gosling is tapping the shell, 
which you can often do. Make a small hole with 
the point of a penknife, and if no blood oozes out 
make another hole in the large end of the egg y and 
chip away the shell betweenthe two points first, and 
then gradually break away enough to free the bird. 
If you cannot see where the bill lies, put the egg in 
warm water, mark the spot which lies uppermost, 
and make the first incision there. With gentle care 
nearly all may be saved. Feed goslings the same 
as ducklings, adding green food early, and keep out 
of the water until feathered. 



HATCHING TURKEYS. 



There is no difficulty in hatching good turkey 
eggs in a good incubator. Treat the eggs precisely 
as you would hen eggs, except that the moisture 

73 



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must not be added until a week later than directed 
for hens' eggs. There is a general opinion that 
young turks are hard to raise, but the great diffi- 
culty is that few persons know how to treat them, 
and others do not have a large range for them from 
the time they " shoot the red " (the head begins to 
turn red) until they get their growth. Young tur- 
keys must be kept dry until they show the red. 
Running in wet grass, or exposure to rain, will re- 
tard their growth and prove fatal to many. Brood 
them as you would chickens. Their food for the 
first week should be stale bread crumbs (not sour) 
soaked in milk. Broken water crackers soaked in 
milk for a variety. Give them all the sweet milk 
they will drink (by "sweet" we mean new milk). 
After the first week give them all the clabber they 
will eat, but do not scald it. In addition give once 
a day a small feed of well cooked corn meal, some- 
times in the shape of mush, and again as baked corn 
bread. By draining the clabber through a cheese- 
cloth strainer it becomes nice and crumbly, and is 
easily picked up. Keep them in brooding yards 
until about eight weeks old, then give as much 
range as possible. After eight weeks give no sloppy 
food, but good grain — corn or buckwheat at night, 
and a variety of food in the morning. They will 
gather at least half of their living in the insect sea- 
son if they have good place to forage. A turkey is 
unhappy in close confinement and will not fatten in 
a pen like other fowls. Liberty and good feeding 
will give the weight to a well bred bird. 



74 



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HATCHING OSTRICHES. 



HE introduction ol 
artificial hatch- 
ing has added 
materially to the 
profits of the 
ostrich parks 
and farms of 
Africa, Asia and 
America. Sit- 
ting is injurious 
to the valuable 
plumage of the parent birds ; and then the eggs 
may be used for hatching without consulting the 
convenience of the layers. The period of incuba- 
tion is from 40 to 42 days, and little more care 
than is required in hatching chickens is necessary 
in hatching ostriches. The young birds are as 
tender as young turkeys, and should be kept in the 
brooding house until the sun has dried the grass. 
They must also be returned before the dew falls. 
They need shade in the heat of the day, but the 
more sunshine they get, that is not too hot, the 
better they will thrive. The eggs weigh from 3^ 
to 2>H pounds, and one before us measures 15^ 
inches by 17^ inches around each way. They are 
palatable and wholesome when boiled, but are too 
precious for ordinary table use. 

The African ostrich is superior in size, weight 
78 



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and quality of plumage to the Cassoway of New- 
Zealand, the Rhea of South America, or the Emu 
of Australia, and is the kind bred on the Southern 
California ostrich farms at Anaheim and Fall 
Brook. 

The first successful ostrich farms were those of 
the Cape in Africa, which started about 30 years 
ago. Later Madam Carriere established a series of 
ostrich parks at Kouba, Algiers, views of which 
were drawn by M. Louis Say, and which, through 
the courtesy of Messrs. Munn & Co. of the Scien- 
tific AmericcL7i> we reproduce here. Some idea of 
the development of ostrich culture may be drawn 
from the fact that the number of adult birds on the 
Cape farms in 1865 was 85; in 1875, 32,000 ; in 
1879, 160,000. 

K. & C. VON CUUN, 

Publishers of 

" The Art of Incubating and Brooding." 

Price $1.00. 

Delaware City, , 1894. 

Dear Sir: — We wish to illustrate the different kinds of 
incubators, brooders and poultry appliances. Will you 
please send us cut or cuts of your machine or machines, 
together with directions for operating and your catalogue. 
No cut to be larger than 3 by 3 inches. 
Please be prompt, as we are ready and waiting. 
Yours respectfully, 

B. & C. Von Cuwn. 

The above letter was mailed to forty manufacturers 
of incubators. We presume they all received it, 
as none were returned, though our printed address 
was on each envelope. We waited a month. Five 

79 



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responded ; some of them sent cuts, but only one 
sent directions for operating. We give these facts 
as an answer to those who may wish to know why 
we have not described all incubators, as well as a 
few. Without directions for operating, the simple 
picture of the exterior of a machine, is no more 
than you can see in the advertisements in poultry 
papers and in the catalogues of the manufacturers. 



80 



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Fig. i. 



THE THERMOSTATIC INCUBATOR. 

The Thermostatic Incubator was patented July 
31, 1877, by E S. Renwick. It was one of the 
finest hot water incubators made in its day. It is 

81 



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manship. Then why is it that other incubators 
are offered at such low prices? Simply because 
the material in one of Mr. Campbell's incubators 
costs more than many of the gaudy rattle-trap 
machines are sold for. The craze to get something 
for nothing creates a lively market for worthless 
so-called incubators. 




THE EUREKA INCUBATOR. 
Manufactured By J. 1,. Campbell, West Elizabeth, Pa. 

The Improved Simplicity Hatcher consists of 
an egg chamber enclosed on four sides, top and 
bottom by double walls, six inches thick, four inches 
of which are packed with a light non-conductor of 
heat. Above this egg chamber is a heater (hot- 
84 



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air), also enclosed by the double walls, supplied 
by lamps through fire-proof conductors. In the 
centre of the egg chamber and on a level with the 
eggs is a thermostat which controls the tempera- 
ture in the egg chamber and at the egg level. It 
is connected by a brass rod and lever with a valve 
on top of the hatcher, operating in such a manner 
that just as soon as the temperature in the egg 
chamber reaches 102 (or such degree as it may 
be set at) the valve begins to open, turning the 




THE EUREKA BROODER. 

heat currents away from and over the heater, 
instead of into it, and drawing cold air into the 
heater ; and when the temperature in the egg 
chamber starts to fall below 102 it cuts off 
the cold air and turns the currents of hot 
air into the heat reservoir again, thus making 
a commutual or reciprocal action between the 
mechanism of the egg chamber and that of the 
heater, by means of which the temperature is kept 
85 



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absolutely under control. The ventilation is from 
the bottom, fresh air being diffused and escaping 
automatically through a minute tube in the top, 
without perceptible draught, and unaltered by the 
action of the regulator. Moisture is also supplied 
from below, at the time and in quantity suitable to 
the location. 

Fig. i. The general exterior of hatcher, showing 




Fig. i. 
improved simplicity hatcher. 

the position of lamps, the glass door and the 
double packed outside door. The rod on the right 
shows the thermometer drawn out to observe the 
temperature ; when replaced, the bulb is in the 
centre of the egg chamber and level with the eggs. 
Fig. 2. Is a view in perspective, showing the 
body with top and outer walls removed. 
86 



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Fig. 3. Is a longitudinal section on the line XX 
of Fig. 4, showing the thermostat and its connec- 
tions. 




Fig. 2. 

Fig. 4. Is a view in cross section on the line YY 
of Fig. 5. 

Fig. 5. Is omitted, as the four figures shown 
are sufficient to explain fully. 




Fig. 3. 

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout 
the several views. 

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AA are inlets for conducting hot air into the 
heater S through pipes BB. When E is opened, 
it allows the hot air to pass up AA and CC, 
through D, and out at E, making a draft which 
draws hot air out of the heater S at BB, at the 
same time drawing cold air into the heater S at 

nil. 

D is a discharge pipe of double the capacity of 
C, and carries off hot air from CC out at E when 
E is open. 

E is the main outlet for hot air, S is the hot air 
heater five inches deep. 




Fig.. 4. 

H is the egg chamber. 

IIII are tubes running through the top of heater 
S, through which cold air is drawn into heater S, 
when E is open. 

K is a thermostat in the egg chamber and is on a 
level with the eggs. 

L is a metal rod connecting the thermostat with 
the lever M. 

J is a ball or cover suspended at the outer end of 
the lever M, and is made to open or close the out- 
let E by action of the thermostat K. 
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P is a tube running from the egg chamber H 
through the heater S, and through which the rod 
L passes. A constant discharge of air flows 
through this tube, from the egg chamber. It is 
never closed. 

X is one of the lamps, two being used at diag- 
onally opposite corners of the incubator. 

YYY is a five-inch space between the inner and 
outer wall of the improved incubator and is 
packed with mineral wool and granulated cork. 
All of the hot-air pipes are incased in asbestos or 
mineral wool. 



DIRECTIONS FOR OPERATING 

THE VON CULIN IMPROVED SIMPLICITY HATCHER. 




THERMOSTAT 



Light the lamp or lamps, turn the flame to ordin- 
ary height, with regulator as shown above, except 
that the perpendicular rod which connects the lever 
with the thermostat in the egg chamber by means 

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of two brass pins must be left out (not connected) 
until the temperature in the egg chamber rises to 
io2°. Then insert the rod, and connect as shown 
in the illustration. When heating up the machine 
fet the cover J rest on the escape E. To raise the 
temperature of the egg chamber, raise the two nuts 
on the perpendicular rod ; to lower the tempera- 
ture, lower the same nuts. Run the machine 
between 102 and 103 . The cover should be raised 
from the escape about one-sixteenth of an inch at 
102 . This will give a surplus heat which will not 
rise above 103 , but if the temperature of the room 
should fall 40 degrees, and the temperature of the 
egg chamber should fall one-half a degree, the 
closing of the escape valve will change the current 
of the escaping heat at once, making it impossible 
to cool down ; at the same time the cutting off of 
the excessive outward draft increases the flame of 
the lamp, without turning the wick or using any 
device upon the burner or wick. It is done by the 
change of draft alone. 

The thermostat in the egg chamber opens and 
closes the escape valve to decrease or increase the 
heat in the heat reservoir, but does not open or 
close any valve in the egg chamber. The brass 
"guide" straddles the lever. The "support" 
holds the lever by a brass pin on which it works. 
The nuts on the perpendicular rod are to adjust 
the regulator. The nuts on the end of lever are to 
balance it to the makers' adjustment, and must not 
be moved. Run the machine between 102 and 103 
— let 102 be your low point, — and 103 your high 
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point. Run it empty for 24 hours to get well 
regulated, then put in the eggs. Always fill the 
lamps in the morning, if possible. After the eggs 
have been in 24 hours, turn them twice a day with 
the extra tray. Fill the moisture pans on the tenth 
day, unless otherwise directed for special location. 
or altitude. Test eggs on fifth or sixth day (see 
"Testing Eggs"); test again on tenth day. If 
you wish to gain knowledge, test again on sixteenth 
day. Test one tray at a time. If the room is very 
cold take them into a warmer room to test them. 
Do not have a fire in the room where you keep the 
incubator, but have the room well ventilated at all 
times. Never turn up the lamp flame when the 
cover is raised from the escape. If the cover is 
raised high, say $i inch or more, and the tem- 
perature is right, you are wasting oil, and should 
lower the flame. If the cover is down and the 
temperature is too low, raise the flame. Always 
close the doors of machine when you take eggs or 
chicks out. You will not need to look at the 
hatcher more than twice a day, night and morning. 
After the first day cool down the eggs to about 8o° 
or 85 once a day (when turning), until the chicks 
begin to break the shell, then do not turn or cool 
them anymore, but place the "chicken guards" 
on the trays. Take out the chicks morning and 
night (only those that are strong enough) and place 
in a brooder. Do not open the machine often 
when the chicks are hatching. Remember that 
when you lake out a lot of live chicks you also 
take out animal heat, and turn the flame up a little 

91 



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more. After filling the water pans see that they 
do rot get dry. Trim the lamps once a day and 
keep the burners clean. 



THE SIMPLICITY COMPARTMENT HATCHER. 



This machine is like the Improved Simplicity in 
every respect except the position of the lamps, and 
is divided into from two to ten compartments, each 
compartment having a separate heater and regu- 
lator, and may be run independent of the other 
compartments. One, two or all the compartments 
may be used at a time. Persons who cannot fur- 
nish a large number of fresh eggs at one time can 
fill one or more compartments and start them to 
hatching, and fill up each of the remaining com- 
partments at their convenience, thus setting fresh 
eggs every time. They may also be used, to 
advantage by persons who wish to hatch several 
different breeds or varieties of chickens, or for 
chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, turkeys, pheas- 
ants, quails, etc. 



WATER EXPANSION REGULATORS. 



In order that you may get a fair understanding 
of the water expansion system of regulating an in- 
cubator, we will give the claim made by one of the 
manufacturers of that class of machines, and insert 
our opinion in Italics — said opinion being based on 
92 



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experience of one season with one of these ma- 
chines (in California), and a season with three of 
them (in Pennsylvania). 

Regulation." 
" This machine is regulated by the expansion ol 
water. At one end of the tank, which contains thirty 
gallons of water, is attached a regulating tube 
some three or four inches in diameter. Jn this 
tube is inserted a float made of thin brass foil, 
weighing perhaps one ounce, but displacing water 
to the amount of one and one-half pounds. 
This float, with the expansive and contractile 
force of thirty gallons of water behind it, 
works with the regularity and precision of a 
steam engine. [Regardless of what the heat 
may be in the egg chamber, which must vary 
according to the outside changes of temper ature.~\ 
When the water expands it raises this float, which 
forces up a small level bar to which is attached the 
extinguishers on the lamps. When this float rises, 
as it must do with the least expansion of water, the 
heat is cut off on the lamps. [ The flame is lowered, 
provided the lamp trip does ?iot stick ; but if the 
temperature of the room rises, you must be there to 
add more water to make it lower the flame more 
than usual, or to put out the light entirely. ] Should 
the water cool and contract, the blaze is turned on 
in full force. [If the room should become cold, the 
operator must draw off some water, much or little, 
accordi?ig to circumstances. ~\ Now, as the tank is 
the source of heat for the egg chamber, one can 
readily see that it is impossible to injure the eggs by 
94 



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too much heat. [ The tank being the source of heat 
and there being no regtilator in the egg chamber to 
control that heater, even though you should be able 
to keep the water in the tank at a stationary tempera- 
ture for three weeks, the temperature of the egg 
chamber will vary every time the temperature of the 
room changes — if it gets much warmer it will over- 
heat the eggs ; if much colder, they will not have 
enough heat. Overheating is the most dangerous^] 
Indeed, so delicate is the action, that this incuba- 
tor has been known to run a week without varying 
one degree of heat. [ When the temperature of the 
room has not varied. ] There are no sleepless nights 
connected with the use of this machine. [ We have 
lost lots of sleep with them (and so have many 
others').'] This makes the most perfect regulator 
ever invented, [water must be added to or drawn 
from the tank accordi?ig to changes of outside tem- 
perature'] giving the operator absolute control not 
only of the heat in the egg chamber, [as ' absolute ' 
as with no regulator at all] but of any given egg 
tray as well. As we depend upon the expansive 
and contractile force of the water in the tank to 
regulate the heat, [when we did, and the outside 
temperature changed, we got left.] of course it 
makes the principle which generates the superfluous 
heat provide for its own escape. [If the outside 
temperature does not change.] For instance, the 
machine running at a given point, the water being 
the source of heat, you cannot get any more heat 
in the egg chamber unless you heat the water hot- 
ter, and that is impossible unless you expand it, 
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\_Let the outside temperature rise 20 , 4.0 or 50 a?id 
you will find more heat than you want in the egg 
chamber, and you will not wait for the water to ex- 
pand if you wish to save the eggs, but will draw off 
some hot and add some cold water to the tank.~\ and as 
the expansive force of one- fourth of a degree will cut 
the lights entirely off, it makes it simply impossible 
to overheat the machine or eggs. [It is possible at 
times to blow out the lamps entirely and still over- 
heat a hot water incubator, especially during the 
last week, when the animal heat i?i the eggs is in- 
creasing rapidly. ~\ Manipulating the lamps does 
not affect the heat in the egg chamber at all. 
[Rats !] All the operator has to do is to see that 
he has enough of flame, and the regulator will 
take care that he does not get too much. [Some 
operators depend entirely upon manipulating the 
lamps, and dispense with the regulator. If the tem- 
perature of the room would not change, the regula- 
tor might control the temperature of egg chamber ; 
but if the temperature of the room is kept stationary, 
why ?iot hatch in the room instead of buying an in- 
cubator?^ We use two lamps on our largest ma- 
chines, though usually one is all sufficient to furnish 
all the heat required. We call one our safety 
lamp ; for instance, should the operator forget to 
fill one lamp, and the light should go out, the 
water cools — contracts — the float is lowered, the 
heat is turned on in full force on the other lamp 
and the heat is not changed at all in the egg cham- 
ber. Suppose he forgets to attach the extinguisher 
to one lamp, and double heat is turned on ; the 
96 



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water heats— expands — the other extinguisher rises 
and promptly puts out the other light, and still the 
heat remains unchanged in the egg chamber. 
Suppose both lights go out, for want of oil ; the 
thirty gallons of water, packed with an inch of 
hair felting all around and over it, as it is, in a 
double cased machine, packed with the same in- 
sulating material, does not lose more than one or 
two degrees of heat during the whole night. [Is a 
person likely to fill one lamp and forget the other, if 
both are together? If you forgot to attach one ex- 
tinguisher 07i a very warm day, you would risk 
spoiling the eggs, as the tur?ii?ig down of one fame 
would not compe?isate for the o?ie at full blast at the 
latter part of a hatch. A person who has not time 
and memory to fill the lamp or lamps once in 24. 
hours should not use a?i incubator.'] Now an incu- 
bator has got to be run three weeks, night and day. 
All of the above mistakes often occur through the 
carelessness, forgetfulness or inexperience of the at- 
tendant ; so that the superiority and safety of our 
regulation above all others is manifest. The 
superiority of this principle of regulation over 
that on hot air machines is manifest. [ We fail to 
see it. ] Their only means of reducing heat is by 
ventilating when the heat is excessive ; [ This, if 
applied to the heat in the egg chamber (and thai is 
the vital place), is a mistake or a misstatement, as 
the best hot air incubators do not regulate the tem- 
perature of the egg chamber by opening and closing 
ventilators therein or therefrom — it is the Hot 
Water machines that do that. The hot-air machine 
97 



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takes away the SUPPLY of heat from the heater 
and PRE VENTS the heater from overheating the 
egg chamber at any time. See Hot-air Incubator.^ 
Again, other makers decry our lamp trips, saying, 
'They are unreliable' [Not only imreliable, but 
dangerous, from their inclination to clog and stick, 
causing smoke, overheat, etc.~] when this is the 
safest and surest part of the whole thing, [At par 
with the other details. ~\ as it is nothing more or less 
than an adjustable wick tube to reduce the flame. 
Instead of turning down the flame, the tube is 
drawn up over it — the action different, but the 
result the same." 



TWO REGULATORS. 



Some incubators have two regulators. Why? 
Because one is not sufficient. The regulator which 
raises and lowers the flame of the lamp does not 
entirely control the heat, especially when the tem- 
perature of the room rises. To remedy this diffi- 
culty a second regulator is added, one to open and 
close a valve in the egg chamber. As we have 
used such machines, we will tell you how they 
worked for us, and you can decide whether or not 
two regulators are an advantage. 

For instance we set the lamp trip regulator to 
lower the flame at 103^° and the egg chamber 
ventilator to open at 104^° — both thermostats 
being in ^the egg chamber. The temperature of 
the room in which the incubator is operated is 55 
at 7 o'clock A. M. We have filled and trimmed 
98 



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the lamps and turned the eggs, so we leave the 
incubator and go about our other business, not 
expecting to have to attend to the incubator again 
until 6 or 7 P. M. If the temperature of the room 
remains at 55 and the lamp trip does not clog or 
stick all may go well; but by 11 A. M. the tem- 
perature of the room has risen to 70 , the tempera- 
ture of the egg chamber rises to 103^2° and the 
lamp flame is lowered. The temperature of the 
room keeps rising until it reaches 8o°, and not- 
withstanding the fact that the flame is lowered, the 
heat in the egg chamber rises to 104^° and the 
second regulator opens a damper valve in the egg 
chamber. Now the cooler air of the room (at 8o°) 
rushes in the egg chamber, acts on the thermostat 
and closes the valve. It also acts on the other 
thermostat and causes the flame to be turned up, 
while the water in the tank has not cooled a 
degree. The higher flame now makes the water 
still hotter, and the air in the egg chamber is 
reheated, down goes the lamp, open flies the 
damper, the cooler air rushes in, the damper closes, 
up goes the flame, and hotter still gets the water 
in the tank. The up and down and opening and 
closing process goes on at an increased rate 
(shorter intervals) while the egg chamber goes 
through a course of chills and fevers with fluctu- 
ating ventilation and moisture — the latter being 
affected by every change of ventilation, until "the 
temperature of the room declines towards evening 
to 55° or 6o ° or to the point at which it stood 
when the regulators were set or adjusted. If you 

99 



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can keep an even temperature in the room, you 
may be able to control a hot water incubator with 
two regulators ; but in that case why not hatch in 
the room without an incubator ? 



HOCUS POCUS REGULATORS. 



The old game of " hocus pocus," or, " now ycu 
see it, and now you don't," may serve very nicely 
as an innocent amusement for children, but when 
applied to the regulator of an incubator, is not 
particularly amusing to the operator of such incu- 
bator. The following review of a regulator farce 
in four acts — running through four editions of an 
incubator catalogue (our observations being 
inserted in italics), is to the point. 



HOCUS POCUS; 

OR THE MAGIC REGULATOR. 



First Act (from Catalogue No. 5). 
"Our Regulator." To control the heat 
through a course of hatching at a temperature of 
103 within the egg chamber, has been the perplex- 
ing question with all incubator manufacturers. 
Methods consisting of electricity, mercury, water 
expansion, thermostat, lamp trips and other devices 
we have personally and practically tested, which 
enables us to know from experience the great 
advantage of an incubator with a large water capa- 
city, to produce the amount of heat necessary with- 



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out bringing it to a boil, {Notice how they slide off 
of the regulator questio?i into a large tank of water) 
which is the case where small and shallow tanks are 
used. {A large tank of water will not cool off as 
easily as a smaller one, and the possibility of over- 
heating is greater and more dangerous. To produce 
a temperature of ioj° in the egg chamber the body 
of water must be so hot ; if the temperature of the 
room rises or falls, the water in the large ia?ik must 
be made hotter or cooler, as the occasion demands, 
and if a large body of water gets too hot, it stays 
too hot longer than a smaller body of water. If it 
gets too cold, it takes longer to reheat it. What has 
that to do with the regulator f) 

The is supplied with four exhaust 

ventilators, one at each corner of the machine, and 
so arranged that during incubation a continuous 
and evenly distributed current of warm air passes 
through the egg chamber, carrying with it all gas 
and poisonous vapor which accumulates during the 
process of hatching, and exhausts the heat as it 
reaches the point of 103 . ( With no motive power 
to open or close these four ventilators, will any sane 
person imagine that they will control the temperature 
of the egg chamber any more than four windows 
will control the temperature of a room, unless an 
attendant watches and opens and closes them partly 
or entirely as the outside temperature changes ? On 
the contrary, the ventilation will be greater o?i a 
cold than on a warm day, the amount of air passing 
through being governed by the changes of tempera- 
ture of the room). By this method we have a 



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regulator which is simple, perfect and absolutely 
reliable, (The machine as described has ?io more 
regulator than an ordinary tea kettle has, and o?i 
the followi?ig page of same catalogue they not only 
admit that they have no automatic regulator, but 
you will see them say that there is no absolutely self- 
regulating incubator. Nothing slow about this 
farce /), and one that produces a gradual and even 
ventilation, and avoids all chilly drafts which occur 
in incubators ventilated by the constant opening 
and closing of large swinging dampers, claimed to 
regulate the heat, and placed immediately over the 
egg drawer. We have fully demonstrated the 
good qualities of our hatcher, and the reliability 
of our regulator to the people in this whole section 
by completing two hatches in succession, in one of 
the largest and most extensively decorated show 

windows in the city of , with good success. 

Would respectfully ask : Could we, in any way 

better explain what the will do? or the 

accuracy of our regulator. {Have you, thus far, 
found a?iy explanation as to HO W this ' regulator' 
regulates f How it manages the big body of water 
when it gets too hot and sends the temperature of the 
egg chamber up to no° , as we have seen it; or 
how it warms it up again when it gets too cool? 
No f Well neither have we ; but we can tell yoti 
how its manufacturers did it at the World' s Fair : 
They turned the light up or down and waited 
several hours, or got others to do it for them. Had 
the four ventilators at the corners exhausted the 
heat at ioj°, there would have been no da?iger of 

102 



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overheating in the night, and had it been self- regu- 
lating, there would have been no occasion to have 
persons o?i the lookotit to turn the lamp up or down .) 
Many will say, after reading the description 

given herein: The Incubator is undoubtedly 

a good machine, but would prefer one with a self- 
regulator connected with it. {Here is an admission 
that it is not automatic and has NO REGULA- 
TOR, and you must regulate it e?itirely by hand, 
raising or lowering the lamp flame with each 
cha?ige of temperature, if you happen to get there in 
time. ) Right here permit us to call your attention 
to the fact that there is not an incubator in existence 
that is absolutely self-regulating {No, there is no 
perpetual motion that will fill the lamps and attend 
to the requireme?its without human aid, but there are 
incubators that regulate as perfectly as one could 
wish, and need no attention, except for a few min- 
utes twice a day.), it makes no difference what 
superior claims the proprietors set forth, or the 
device or arrangement used for adjusting or gov- 
erning the heat in the egg chamber. (Is not this 
a contradiction of their claim just made, of the 
accuracy of their regulator. The farce abounds 
with finny situations?) Experienced incubator 
operators will bear us out in this statement. {Not 
if they have used the best makes of modern incuba- 
tors ; hundreds prove to the contrary.) From one 
of the many books of directions for operating Self- 
regulating Incubators, which we have in our 
possession, we quote the following paragraph. 
" No matter how much of a self-regulating machine 
103 



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it is, the SUPPLY of heat must be regulated by 
hand more or less, as the temperature of the room 
changes. You must understand the working of 
the regulator and see that it is set at the proper 
degree before you put ANY EGGS in the ma- 
chine." (No person would start to fire up a new 
boiler without properly adjusting the safety valve, 
nor would an engi?ieer attempt to start his locomo- 
tive before getting up steam to the required pressure. 
A baker would not put his bread in an oven before 
it was thoroughly heated. Certainly an incubator 
ma?iufact7irer with common sense would not direct 
you to put eggs into an incubator before you have 
the heat up to ioj° and the regulator set to control 
it. Such argument (?) is ridiculous). The fore- 
going leaves you to judge the real value of self- 
regulators, which is materially the same advice 
given to all purchasers, after sending their cash for a 
self-regulating incubator. (All so-called self -regu- 
lating incubators are not self -regulating, but there 
are some which are.) 

We most emphatically state that the 

is as near perfect in this respect as a machine for 
hatching eggs can be made, unassisted by motive 
power, thermostat, clock-work, electricity or any 
secondary appliance whatever. (No motive power, 
no automatic regulation ; and where there is ?w 
automatic regulation you must depend upon regu- 
lating by hand, that is by turning the flame up or 
down; if you are not at hand at the proper time, 
which may be at midday or at midnight, you get left 
on the hatch, your eggs get cooked or chilled^) Our 
104 



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machine is in every sense practical and reliable, 
readily understood and easily managed. After a 
short experience with one of our hatchers, we will 
guarantee that you may be absent from the machine 
from seven in the morning till seven in the evening 
and it will take care of itself, unless {Jia '!) an un- 
usual and extreme change of temperature takes 
place. A change of from seven to ten degrees will 
have no material effect on our incubator." {If no 
extreme change of temperature takes place ! Well, 
extreme changes do take place in twelve hours, even 
in daytime, but what about leaving it alone all 
night, when changes of from ten to forty degrees 
frequently occur? In some parts of this country 
a change of fifty degrees within 24 hours is not 
unusual?) 



Second Act (from Catalogue No. 6, early edi- 
tion.) 

" Our Regulator." For ten years the 



Incubator has been manufactured. Each year it 
has rapidly advanced in popularity and to-day 
stands in the front rank with the best. This has 
been accomplished by adding new features — but 
only when such features are proven practical and 
consistent — with other important appliances which 
must be used to constitute a first- class hatcher, as 
an imperfect regulator will derange and seriously 
affect both moisture and ventilation. In equipping 

our with regulator, we have been very 

careful to avoid all puzzling contrivances. {After 
105 



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# constant war against regulators they conclude 
that they need o?ie. That they did put their foot 
into a puzzling contrivance will be evident when 
you observe that in a later edition of catalogue No. 
6 their regulator is discarded — has disappeared in 
twenty gallons of water.') Methods consisting of 
electricity, mercury, water- expansion, lamp-trips, 
and numerous other devices, we have practically 
tested. {Can we believe that they had tested the 
regulator which they now claim to have adopted, 
when they did not have oyie on their incubator at 
World \s Fair, during the latter part of which they 
an?iounced that they had a regulator, after examin- 
ing the regulators of other machi?ies on exhibition, 
and asking where and by whom they were made. 
Did they have it 071 the two incubators outside the 
fair grounds , hatching chicks for their brooders?), 
but find nothing so complete in every particular as 
the late improved combined thermostat, which is 
as sensitive to the heat's action as the thermometer 
itself. {How does that sound after what they said in 
the first act about self-regulating incubators f A 
month or so previous they were no good ; now there 
is nothing so complete — and bear in mind they claim 
to add only such features as are proven practical. 
Here the farce borrows a feature of the pantomime, 
and the clown turns a somersault.') 

A thermostat bar twelve inches long, (too short) 
composed of steel, brass and rubber, all especially 
prepared for our hatchers. (The combination is 
something new, indeed. We do not say that they 
did not attempt to use such a thermostat, but we 
106 



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•81 



were told by a lady that she bought one of these 
incubators shortly after the World' 's Fair, under- 
standing from the catalogue that it had such a 
regulator, but found that there was no thermostat 
in the machine. That she wrote to the makers 
about it, and they told her that the party who made 
them for them had failed, and they could not get 
any more ; but that she should remember that it was 
not the regulator that hatched the chicks, but the 
incubator. She said that she returned the machine 
to its makers and asked for her money. We pre- 
sume that she got it.) The bar is securely fastened 
to the under side of frame which supports the tank 
and on a level with the upper surface of the eggs. 
At the unfastened end of the bar it connects with 
lever and a brass rod, which opens and closes a 
small ventilating tube. This ventilating cap is 
easily adjusted by means of two little set- screws, 
one above and one below the cap, on outside and 
on top of tube, and can be set to open or close at 
any desired degree of temperature in the egg- 
chamber. With our regulator no rods or bearings 
are attached to the outside of the machine. ( We 
have not found any person who has yet see?i them on 
the inside.) We have known of serious accidents 
occurring where the regulating attachments are 
exposed to the meddling of children, and one 
instance especially, where 600 nice eggs were 
ruined two days before they were due to hatch by 
a rat running over the top of the incubator and 
dislocating the regulator. (Rats ! It is a case of 
sour grapes. Notice later, in the fourth act, cata- 
107 



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/<2£7^ A£>. zo, where they claim to have another 
regulator — this time on the outside, they forget to 
mention the mischievous rat, or the meddling chil- 
dren ; but such an important character as Mr. Rat 
should be made to play his part to the end of the 
farce.*) 



Third Act (from Catalogue No. 6, later edition.) 

''As to the Matter of Regulation." The 

Incubator has been on the market nine 

consecutive years. {Glance back to beginning of 
second act?) Its growth in public favor has been 
rapid. It is to-day the most popular incubator in 
existence. It has won this high rank strictly on its 
merits. Its wide-spread popularity is, we claim, 
absolute proof of its merits — of its real value as a 
hatcher. The proof of the pudding is in the eat- 
ing ! In reply to all envious assertions made by 
competitors, we have this to say : Mere assertion is 
one thing ; actual results, as described and sworn 
to by men and women who have bought and are 

now using — hatchers, are very different 

things. The one is the boasting of men who have 
something to sell ; the others are the disinterested 
statements of persons who have paid out their 
good money for artificial hatchers and have put 
them to the test. ****** jhe real 
safety of the heat governor on a successful incu- 
bator depends upon the amount of water used. 

That is the secret of success. The holds 

twenty gallons of water, 200 egg capacity. {Here 
108 



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they fall back again into the twenty gallons of water. 

Where, oh, where is that 12-inch thermostat? 

Where is the new feature which they had proven ; 
the thermostat that was as sensitive to the heat's 
action as the thermometer itself? Did a rat carry 
it 01 



Fourth Act (from tenth annual catalogue, first 

edition). 

"* Automatic Heat Regulators." The 

, as originally patented, was not 

equipped with an automatic regulator. The value 
of a trustworthy regulator was appreciated, how- 
ever, ( What about the twenty gallons of water and 
the four ventilating holes, which m First Act, cata- 
logue No. 5, was a regulator simple, perfect and 
absolutely reliable?} and during a number of years 
extensive experiments were made by us along this 
line. ( We should say so, when within one year four 
different catalogues were used to convince pro- 
spective customers that the machine had a simple, 
perfect and reliable regulator^ while they were 
ringing the changes on the twenty gallons of water 
and four ventilators, the 12 -inch rubber, brass and 
steel thermostat, the twenty gallons of water and 
four ventilators again, and the?i the severed band of 
brass and soldered steel wires?) So-called lamp 
trips were tried and found to be untrustworthy. 
The rubber thermostat, or rubber bar was faithfully 
tried, but was found to lose its power after three or 
four hatches and thus become worthless. {Less 
than a year before they said they had a complete 
109 



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regulator — the expansive power of which was, 
zve believe, rubber. Now they say it is worthless. 
Then they declared that they added only such 
features as had ' ' proven practical? ") A regulating 
device which depends on a rubber bar for its power 
will not last, as the rubber, when continually 
exposed to a temperature of 103 , dies, as the 
scientists say, or loses its power of regular expan- 
sion and contraction. It is like the rubber in a 
pair of ordinary suspenders, in the heat of summer 
the rubber gives out. A steel strip is used with a 
view to correcting this loss of power in the rubber 
thermostat, but with only temporary results. 
( Was this true when they claimed it " proven, 
"complete in every particular and as sensitive to 
the heaf s action as the thermometer itself" ; or do 
the laws of nature change within a year to suit the 
convetiience of these pmistersf Verily, the farce is 
a merry one I s ) We know exactly what we are 
talking about in this respect, for the simple reason 
that we once adopted this same device and had to 
discard it as being worse than no regulator at all. 
{But say, while we are proud to see them own up 
for once, we cant exactly see how they are going to 
explain the fairy tale in one of the catalogues No. 
6, where they declare that they added only such new 
features as have PRO V EN practical and consist- 
ent, and give the public to understand that the said 
device had been thoroughly tested and proven, and 
fotind practical and accurate. 

There are no secrets connected with the 
incubators, none whatever. In this book we aim 
no 



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•9 



to explain and describe every part and feature of 
our machines so that there need be no misunder- 
standings. We want our patrons to know before- 
hand precisely what they are to get. ( The bass 
drum and trombone put in a staccato note here.) 
We are willing to leave it to their judgment 
whether or not our machines are honest goods 
built on correct principles. {Soft cade?ices of 
harmony from second violin, flute, clarionet in E 
flat, French horn and violoncello. Ladies in the 
parquet and dress circle weep in an undertoiie. 
Lights low?) 

The regulator we* now use {For how long?) on 
all our machines, depends for its power on the 
expansion and contraction of metals, brass and 
steel, under a change of temperature — a natural 
law that is as certain as that a stone when thrown 
into the air will fall back to earth. ( The old steel 
and brass co?nbi?iation was discarded years ago by 
parties who now ma?iufacture good incubators, and 
a third tumble into the same old twenty gallons of 
water will probably be a feature in the next cata- 
logue. Unfortunately the ?iew customers very rarely 
see the old catalogues?) 

Tableau — Colored lights — Lively music. 

CURTAIN. 

There are numerous ' ' hocus pocus ' ' regulators (?) 
placed on so-called incubators. While nobody 
objects to would-be inventors experimenting with 
every new contrivance offered them as regulators, 
provided they do the experimenting at their own 



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expense, before placing the machine or contrivance 
on the market, most persons do object to having 
an experimental regulator palmed off on them for 
a thoroughly tested and proven one. A mariner 
is just as safe with a deficient compass as a poultry- 
man is with a faulty regulator on his incubator. 
If it occurs to you that we seem to be finding a 
great deal of fault, we would call your attention to 
the fact that when a surveyor makes a chart of a 
river or bay, he does not stop at lining out the safe 
courses and deep channels, but is equally particular 
to designate the dangerous m rocks, treacherous 
shoals and sunken wrecks. Did we fail to do the 
same in this line you would censure us. 



OTHER METHODS OF REGULATION. 



Take a machine with a thermostatic bar close to 
the heater, not level with the eggs, and the bottom 
of the incubator being nothing but one thickness 
of galvanized iron, with water pans made in the 
iron ; a change of temperature in the room will, 
through this thin iron, affect the temperature of 
the egg chamber below the thermostatic bar, and 
as high as the level of the egg centre, before affect- 
ing the bar, and under some circumstances the 
variations do not reach the bar at all. The chilling 
of the water through this thin bottom is also fatal 
to good results. The flame of the lamp must be 
raised or lowered as the temperature of the room 
changes to any extent. 

Another incubator, partly double wall, one-inch 



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wood with galvanized iron inside ; a thermostatic 
bar as in the former, or nearly so, only made in 
different shape and applied differently to open a 
damper in the top and to raise the lamp trips to 
lower the flames. This damper opens, and out 
rushes the heat — a?id the moisture. The eggs and 
the water are thus cooled. 

This damper is supposed to open at 103^° or 
104 and to close at 102 , and under certain cir- 
cumstances it will do it, but you cannot depend 
upon it. It may open at 103^° and close at 101 
for a week, and it may open at 103 and not close 
until the temperature falls to 95 , and again it will 
close at 101 and will not open until 1 io° is reached 
— we have seen them go up to 115® before opening. 
Can this be called "self-regulating?" Can the 
right amount of moisture be applied by this 
arrangement ? 

Another class have a water tank over the eggs, 
with thermometer immersed in the water, and the 
operator is directed to keep the water at a certain 
temperature. We have seen eggs cooked in this 
kind of a machine with water kept as directed. 

Another lined with paper, and having a regulator 
four inches above the eggs, and water on top of 
the heater, with a damper over the water, which 
damper is supposed to open and close at the desired 
temperature. It does not do so with any regularity, 
and when it does open, it is liable to stay open all 
day and, of course, the moisture goes out. We 
have run three of this kind with bad results, after 
which they were stored away. 

113 



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Another has a very pretty appearance, glass 
doors, etc., with thermostatic bar, single wall, 
clock-work and battery ; dampers in the top to 
open and close (often six or eight times in an hour), 
lamp trips to lower the flame ; it is quite a piece of 
machinery — and quite likely to get out of order, 
both the clock-work and the thermostatic bar, as 
well as the battery. When these all work right it 
gives very good results ; but it requires- skill, 
experience and a mechanical turn to operate this 
class of machines successfully. 

Another has splendid arrangements for moisture 
and ventilation ; but the thermostatic bar is affected 
by the swelling and shrinking of the machine and 
change of outside temperature ; in some climates, 
we find it almost impossible to control it in an 
ordinary house. 

We have found where lamp trips are used the 
wick becomes charred much quicker. 

Another kind has a tank to pour hot water into 
above the eggs, which are placed in a drawer. 
The water must be drawn out and heated every 
day, sometimes several times in a day, and is not 
reliable for profitable work . 

There are others which we might mention, but 
space forbids, nor is it necessary. 

Most of the so-called " self- regulating ' ' incu- 
bators that we have seen have to be governed 
principally by the lamp and some judgment of the 
operator. 

Example : We have a large room made of one- 
inch boards, with a stove in it, which, in moderate 
114 



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weather with a moderate fire, will heat it comfort- 
ably. In cold weather it takes a larger fire to heat 
it, and in extremely cold weather the hottest fire 
we can make in this stove will not heat it properly. 
Why ? Because the outside temperature penetrates 
the thin wall. If this same room was to be heated 
for chicks, the chicks to run on the floor, and you 
wanted the temperature on the floor at 70 , would 
you for a moment think of putting the regulator at 
the ceiling and calculating the temperature below ? 



THERMOSTATS. 



Air, water, alcohol, ether, iodine, kerosene, 
mercury, gold, silver, iron, steel, brass, rubber and 
many other substances have been used in making 
thermostats, with varying success. A thermostat 
combining the right quality of vulcanized rubber 
with a grade of brass made suitable for this purpose, 
is the best one yet made. It took years of experi- 
ment to determine the exact quality and grade, 
and it requires an expert to put them together so 
they will work true and correctly, and neither lose 
power nor take a back or reverse action. 

A thermostat may work near enough to control 
the heat of a furnace or to ventilate a house, and 
yet fail to give satisfaction on an incubator ; for a 
very small variation of the thermostat may ruin 
the entire hatch. 

Each year some manufacturer of metal goods, 
agricultural implements, show cases, washing 
"5 



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machines or novelties, announces to the incubator 
people that he has just perfected a regulator that 
he will put on his incubator this season, and that 
he would like to furnish it at a low cost to the 
manufacturers of incubators. The mushroom 
concerns that have a regulator which does not 
work, and some of those that have none at all 
(which is far better, because you know you have to 
watch them) jump at it, and then whoop that they 
have something that they have tested for years. 
They seldom know a good thing when they see it, 
but the bitter complaints of customers cause them 
to cast about for something else, and they are 
ready for the next fake that comes along. 

Manufacturers of thermostats for fire alarms 
have failed to produce one for incubators. 

Air, water, alcohol, and most liquids are affected 
by atmospheric pressure, etc., and are not reliable. 
Alcohol is rarely used in thermometers now, except 
where extremely low temperatures are to be taken, 
when mercury fails to act. Zinc expands well, but 
fails to contract ; it gradually grows longer and is 
useless. Mercury, if not confined, will evaporate ; 
even when confined it is affected by moisture, and 
is not a perfect material for a thermostat. You 
may say, ' • If moisture affects a mercury thermo- 
stat, why will it not affect a mercury thermometer?" 
It does ; but a comparatively small amount of 
mercury is used in a thermometer. As a proof of 
this assertion, look at the very best hygrometers, 
which are made by using a wet and a dry bulb 
thermometer. Notice the difference between the 
116 



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temperatures of the wet thermometer and the dry- 
one. If moisture affects a small amount of mer- 
cury that much, what will it do with from twenty 
to forty times the bulk? Iron and steel are too 
slow to contract, or return. Gold and silver are 
too expensive, and are not equal to brass as a 
metal part. Remember that there are many kinds 
of brass, and all kinds will not answer. Liquids 
are not safe ; besides the danger of a leak, the 
expansion and contraction of the metal in which 
they are confined must be overcome or compen- 
sated for. 




MOISTURE GAUGES AND HYGROMETERS. 



We have experimented with many moisture 
gauges and hygrometers both inside and outside 
of incubators, and have not found them of any 
practical use inside of an incubator. The majority 
of those offered to poultrymen are not at all 
Ir 7 



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reliable, and many of them should be classed with 
toys. For instance, we have two of the same make 
and kind, and placed them side by side, and found 
them indicating different degrees of humidity. 
We have then placed a high-priced hygrometer 
between them and corrected both to correspond 
with the high-grade instrument. In a few hours 
No. i would mark 70 while No. 2 would point to 
90 while the standard instrument indicated 55 . 
Again, when No. 1 was at 90 No. 2 was pushing 
past ioo°, and later when No. 2 was at 40 No. 1 
was at 55 . There was no regularity or method 
in their variations, as one would be higher than 
the other one day and lower than the same the 
next day. Of what use would either of those 
instruments be in an incubator — even if you could 
control the moisture ? The old-fashioned way of 
putting a cigar in the incubator would be just as 
serviceable. You tell by the feel of the cigar about 
how moist or dry the air is. 

There are, of course, hygrometers that are cor- 
rect, but few of them are adapted for use in an 
incubator. Some are too long or high for the 
space between the egg tray and the heat radiator, 
while others have a scale so small that it cannot be 
read without removing it from the egg chamber to 
a stronger light. 

It is well to have a good hygrometer in the incu- 
bator room and to keep a record of its readings, 
daily, for it will be a valuable guide, taken in con- 
nection with the record of kinds and condition of 
eggs in the incubator, in determining whe?i to fill 
118 






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the moisture pans and the amount of evaporating 
surface required. The time and quantity are 
figured out for your location and incorporated in 
the general directions sent by the manufacturer of 
a good incubator, but as he cannot know the 
exact kind, quality and condition of the eggs you 
may use, his directions are given for the best 
results from an average lot of mixed eggs and an 
average condition of outside temperature and 
humidity. 

Here is the record of a little experiment, using 
the wet and dry bulb hygrometer and a spiral 
moisture gauge in the incubator room, and two 
spiral moisture gauges inside the incubator, the 
temperature of the egg chamber being 103 — the 
spiral instruments all being compared and set by 
the wet and dry bulb hygrometer, to within one- 
fifth of a degree, or as near as possible with such 
instruments : First day, in room, dry bulb 79 — 
wet 71 — spiral 30 ; inside of incubator, No. 1, 6o° 
— No. 2, 90 . Second day, room, dry 70 — wet 
76 — spiral ioo° ; in incubator, No. 1, 95 — No. 2, 
65 ; Afternoon of same day, room, dry 70 — wet 
76 — spiral 85 ; in incubator, No. 1, 6o° — No. 2, 
95 . Third day, room, dry, 75 — wet 72 — spiral, 
95 ; in incubator, No. 1, ioo° — No. 2 index 
against ioo°, and did not start back until No. 1 
reached 75 . The same degree of heat, same ven- 
tilation and same exposure of water surface were 
kept in the incubator all three days. We have 
kept these and other tests going for years, but 
have given enough to illustrate the point without 

119 



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tiring the reader. Try them yourself. The ordi- 
nary moisture gauges are not reliable, and if they 
were, you could not control the outside humidity. 

From one-sixth to eighteen-twenty-firsts of the 
incubation there is no water in the egg chamber of 
a majority of incubators, to create moisture. 
Suppose then the gauge indicates more moisture 
than is called for, what will you do ? What use is 
the gauge there ? If the gauge is not correct you 
will know no more than without one. If the water 
pans were full and the gauge indicated too much 
moisture, and you reduced it, you would probably 
do exactly wrong ; for the gauge would fool you . 
There is no rule by which a given amount of 
moisture can be used through an entire hatch, or 
for a part of it, by any gauge. A correct gauge 
will indicate the degree of humidity, but thus far, 
it has never been perfectly controlled in an incu- 
bator, nor is it likely to be as long as ventilation is 
a necessity. We can regulate it to a great extent 
so as to make very good hatches ; but the man 
who expects to control the moisture in the egg 
chamber must look beyond a moisture gauge. 

There is more moisture when the chicks are 
hatching than at any other time ; they also need 
more then. The tray of wet chicks increases the 
moisture. 

Some eggs require more moisture than others. 
Some eggs will stand more moisture than others. 
Thick shell eggs require less than those with thin, 
soft shells. You will often hear a person say that 
their thin shell eggs hatched splendidly, but that 
120 



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the chicks died in those with thick shells. It is 
generally the case that they had just the right 
amount of moisture for the thin shell eggs, and too 
much for the thick ones. Would the moisture 
gauge help the thick shell eggs in that instance ? 
As the majority of persons have a mixed lot of 
eggs, general directions must be given that will 
give the best results, as a rule. If directions with 
incubators were made to fill a dozen or twenty 
pages, a great many beginners would slight them 
and omit some of the most vital points ; or they 
would reject them entirely as too complicated. 
But those who wish to get all there is in the busi- 
ness, should try to have eggs as nearly alike in 
character of shell as possible, to fill an incubator. 
This is impracticable to many, but comparatively 
easy where one has two or more incubators. 

Mason's Hygrometer consists cf two thermome- 
ters, as nearly as possible alike, mounted parallel 
upon a frame and marked respectively "wet" 
and "dry." The bulb of the one marked wet is 
covered with thin muslin or silk, and kept moist 
from a fountain which is usually attached. The 
principle of its action is, that unless the air is satu- 
rated with moisture, evaporation is continually 
going on. And as no evaporation can take place 
without an expenditure of heat, the temperature 
of the wet bulb thermometer, under the evapora- 
tion from the moistened bulb, falls until a certain 
point is reached, intermediate between the dew- 
point and the temperature of the air, as shown by 
the dry bulb thermometer. To find the dew-point, 

121 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^s^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ffislsdssjssjjejstjsejssjste/ 



a — . . , , . , — , & 



the absolute dryness, and the 
weight in grains of a cubic foot 
of air, tables have been con- 
structed empirically from experi- 
ments at Greenwich, combined 
with Regnault's tables of Vapor 
Tension, for the use of which we 
are indebted to the courtesy of 
Messrs. Queen & Co., Phila- 
delphia. 

If the air be very dry, the dif- 
ference between the two ther- 
mometers will be great ; if moist, 
less in proportion, and when fully 
saturated, both will be alike. For 
different purposes, different de- 
grees of humidity are required, 
and even in household use, that 
hygrometrical condition of the 
atmosphere most beneficial to one 
person, may frequently be found altogether unsui- 
table for another. " Dry" bulb 70 and "wet" 
bulb 62 to 64 indicate average healthful hygrom- 
etrical conditions ; any other relative condition re- 
quired may easily be found by experiment, and 
then, dispensing with calculations, or reference to 
tables, it is only necessary to see that the two ther- 
mometers stand in the required relation to each 
other. 

The price of Mason's Hygrometer ranges from 
$2.00 to $17.50. 




MASON'S HYGROM- 
ETER. 



fr 



^^^^^^^^<^^^<^^"45^^^*^«J»^^^^<^^^^^^^^^«Is«I»s}s«Js'^^e|s«Js^ 



•6 



TABLES FOR THE USE OF MASON'S HYGROMETER. 

TABLE OF DEGREES. 



_co A 


1 
Degrees + ex- 


Leslie's Hygrometer 

compared with 

Mason's, 




Degrees + ex- 


V 




cess x 2 = ab- 
solute Dryness. 


cess x 2 = ab- 
solute Dryness. 




c*-l 

tat * 
Q ° 


<~ . 
* j 'd 

■8.S 

W Q .a 


s £ a 


O WG 

OB S U 

Q ° 


H (CO 

a <s 


< M cy 


K«cS 
«aS 

cy 





0.0 


O 





H-5 


1. 9165 


26.833 


69 


0.5 


0.083 


I. 166 


3 


22 


2.000 


28.O 


72 


I 


0.166 


2.332 


6 


12.5 


2083 


29. 166 


75 


I -5 


0.2495 


3-499 


9 


13 


2.166 


30 332 


78 


2 


0-333 


4666 


12 


13-5 


22495 


3' 499 


81 


2-5 


04165 


5 833 


15 


14 


2-333 


32666 


84 


3 


0.300 


7.0 


18 


14-5 


2.4165 


33.833 


87 


35 


0.583 


8.166 


21 


15 


2.500 


35-0 


90 


4 


0.666 


9 332 


24 


15-5 


3-583 


36.166 


93 


4-5 


0-7495 


10499 


27 J 


16 


2.666 


37-332 


96 


5 


0.833 


11.666 


30 


165 


2.7495 


38.499 


99 


5-5 


09165 


12.833 


33 


17 


283^ 


39.666 


102 


6 


1 000 


14.0 


36 


175 


2.9 65 


40.833 


I0 5 


65 


1.083 


15 166 


39 ! 


18 


3.000 


42 


108 


7 


1 


166 


16332 


42 i 


185 


3083 


43 166 


in 


75 


1 


2495 


17 499 


45 


19 


3.166 


44 332 


114 


8 


1 


333 


18.666 


48 i 


19-5 


32495 


45 499 


117 


8.5 


1 


4i65 


I9-833 


5i 


20 


3.333 46.666 


120 


9 


1 


500 


21.0 


54 


205 


3-4165 


47-833 


123 


9-5 


1 


583 


22 166 


57 


21 


3-5oo 


490 


126 


10 


1 


666 


23.332 


60 


21.5 


3-583 


50.166 


129 


10.5 


1 


7495 


24499 


63 


22 


3-666 


5L332 


132 


11 


1 


«33 


25.666 


66 


22 5 


3 7495 


52.499 


135 



By the Table of Degrees is shown, without 
calculation, the absolute dryness of the atmosphere, 
in degrees of Fahrenheit's Thermometer. 

Observe the Number of Degrees the two 
Thermometers Differ, which are here called 
" degrees of dryness observed," and found in the 
first column of the table. 

The second column merely contains the figures 
which have been added to the degrees of dryness 
123 



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in the first, and multiplied by 2, to obtain the 

ANSWER PUT DOWN IN THE THIRD COLUMN. 

Example. — Temperature of the air 57, wet bulb 
54 — 3 degrees of dryness observed ; then add 0.5 
excess of dryness = 3.5 and multiply by 2, which 
will give 7 degrees of absolute dryness existing. 

To find the dew-point — Subtract the absolute 
dryness from the temperature of the air. Example 
57 — 7 = 50 dew-point. 

To find the actual quantity of vapor by weight 
in the atmosphere. — Proceed as directed in the 
Table of Quality. 

The comparison of Mason's with the *Dew- 
point Hygrometer, and of Sir John Leslie's, will 
be seen in the same line of the 1st, 3d and 4th 
columns of the Table. 



TO FIND THE QUANTITY OF VAPOR BY WEIGHT 
EXISTING IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 



PROBLEM.— The Temperature of the Atmos- 
phere in the shade, and of the dew-point being 
given, to find the quantity of vapor in a cubic foot 
of air. 

If the temperature of the air and the dew-point 
correspond, which is the case when both ther- 
mometers are alike, and the air consequently satu- 
rated with moisture, then in the table of quantity 
opposite to the temperature, will be found the cor- 
responding weight of a cubic foot of vapor ex- 
pressed in grains. 

* Professor Daniel's Hygrometer is registered by the 3d column. 
124 

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_ _— — •> 



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Example. — Let the temperature of the air be 
70 F., and the dew-point the same. Then op- 
posite the temperature you have the weight of a 
cubic foot of vapor — 8.392 grains. 

But if the temperature of the air be different 
from the dew-point, a correction is necessary to find 
the exact weight. 

Example.— Suppose the dew-point be 70 F., as 
before, but the temperature of the air in the shade 
be 8o°, then the vapor has suffered an expansion due 
to an excess of io°, which requires a correction. 

We find in the table of corrections for io° is 
1.0208- 

Then divide 8.392 grains at the dew-point, viz., 
70 by the correction, corresponding to the degrees 
of absolute dryness, viz., io°, and you have the 
actual weight of vapor existing. 

8.3920 
Example. 8.221 grains existing, which 

1.0208 
substracted from the weight of vapor, correspond- 
ing to the temperature of 8o° F., gives the number 
of grains required for saturation at that tempera- 
ture. 

Example. — 1 1.333 S r - at tne temp, of 8o° F. 
8.221 gr. contained in the air. 



3. 1 12 gr. required for saturation. 

To find the relations of these conditions on the 

natural scale of humidity [complete saturation 

being 1.000], divide the weight of vapor at the dew 

point by the weight at the temperature of the air, 

125 



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the quotient gives the parts of 1.000 the degrees of 
saturation. 

8.392 gr. at the dew-point — 70 



Example. 



1 1.333 gr. at the temp, of the air 8o° 
7.40 degrees of humidity, saturation being 1.000. 

The principles of these calculations will be found 
in Professor Daniel's Meteorological Essays; in 
Mr. Anderson's Essays on Hygrometry ; in the 
Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Vol. XI, and in the 
Edinburgh Journal of Science, Vol. VII, page 43, 
in an excellent article on the Dew-point Hygrom- 
eter, by Mr. Foggo, from which the table of cor- 
rections has been partly subtracted. The table of 
quantity by weight has been taken from Professor 
Daniel's Work on Meteorology, to which the 
reader is referred for further particulars. 



126 



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TABLE OF QUANTITY. 

SHOWING THE WEIGHT, IN GRAINS, OF A CUBIC 
FOOT OF VAPOR, AT DIFFERENT TEMPERA- 
TURES, FROM O TO 95 F. 



127 







1 












d 


Weigh 

in 
Grains 


eu 


£ 


a 


£ i 


d 


2 i 


a 

<L> 


a 

V 


<u 


.5? a -9 

(Li"- 1 w 


a 

<u 


M C 2 


O 


0856 


24 


1.961 


48 


4.279 


72 


8924 


I 


0.892 


25 


2.028 


49 


4407 


73 


9.199 


2 


0.928 


26 


2.096 


50 


4-535 


74 


9 484 


3 


0.963 


27 


2 163 


51 


4 684 


7.S 


9.780 


4 


0.999 


28 


2 229 


52 


4.832 


76 


IO.I07 


5 


1.034 


29 


2.295 


53 


5003 


77 


IO.387 


6 


1.069 


30 


2 361 


54 


5-173 


78 


IO.699 


7 


1. 104 


3i 


2-451 


55 


5 342 


79 


II.016 


8 


i-^ 


32 


2 539 


56 


5 5" 


80 


H-333 


9 


I.I73 


33 


2.630 


57 


5.679 


8r - 


11.665 


10 


1.208 


34 


2.717 


58 


5.868 


82 


12.005 


ii 


1.254 


35 


2805 


59 


6.046 


83 


12.354 


12 


1.308 


36 


2.892 


60 


6 222 . 


84 


12.713 


13 


1-359 


37 


2.979 


61 


6-399 


85 


13.081 


14 


1405 


38 


3.066 


62 


6-575 


86 


13.458 


15 


1 -45 1 


39 


3-153 


63 


6-794 


87 


13.877 


16 


1497 


40 


3-239 


64 


7.013 


88 


14-230 


17 


i.54i 


4i 


3 371 


6 J 


7.230 


89 


14-613 


18 


1.5*6 


42 


3 502 


66 


7 447 


90 


15-005 


19 


1.631 


43 


3633 


67 


7.662 


9i 


15432 


20 


1.688 


44 


3-763 


68 


7899 


92 


15-786 


21 


1 757 


45 


3-893 


69 


8.135 


93 


16.186 


22 


1.825 


46 


4.022 


70 


8.392 


94 


16.593 


23 


1.893 


47 


4-151 


7i 


8658 


95 


17.009 






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TABLE OF CORRECTIONS. 

TO BE USED WHEN THE TERM OF DEPOSITION, OR 

DEW-POINT, DIFFERS FROM THE TEMPERATURE 

OF THE AIR IN THE SHADE. 



JH 2- 


6 




6 . 


M 




fe\~£ 


£5 


S3 o r, 


u o 




E 


S3 O a 


n 


M y 


U 


W &H 


or! 


W {H 


0£ 




« £ 


03 






0.0000 


13 


1. 0271 


26 


I 0542 


39 


1.0813 


I 


1.0020 


14 


1.0291 


27 


1.0562 


40 


1.0834 


2 


1. 0041 


15 


1. 0312 


28 


1.0583 


41 


1.0854 


3 


1.0062 


16 


1-0333 


29 


I 0604 


42 


10875 


4 


1.0083 


17 


1-0354 


30 


1.0625 


43 


1.0896 


5 


1. 0104 


18 


1.0375 


31 


I 0646 


44 


1.0917 


6 


1. 0125 


19 


1.0396 


32 


1.0667 


45 


i-°937 


7 


1. 0146 


20 


1. 0417 


33 


1.0687 


46 


1.0958 


8 


1. 0167 


21 


1-0437 


34 


1.0708 


47 


1.0979 


9 


1. 0187 


22 


1.0458 


35 


I 0729 


48 


1. 1000 


10 


1.0208 


23 


1.0479 


36 


1.0750 


49 


1.1021 


ii 


1.0229 


24 


1.0500 


37 


1. 0771 


50 


1. 1042 


12 


1.0250 


25 


1. 0521 


38 


1.0792 


5i 
52 


1 1062 
1.1083 











Rule. — To find the weight of moisture in a 
cubic foot of air at any time. Divide the weight in 
grams found opposite to the temperature, corres- 
ponding to the dew-point at the time, in the table 
of quantity, by the correction found opposite to 
difference of temperature in the table of corrections, 
corresponding to the absolute dryness existing at 
the time. 



128 



^^^^«££I^^^^^^^-£<^^^<£^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^% 







MASONS PATENT HYGRODIKE. 



This instrument is on the principle of Mason's 
Hygrometer, but arranged with dial and pointer 
so that the absolute and relative dryness and the 
dew-point may be read off without calculation. 
The price is $15.00 



129 



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^sfc sfr && & &<& ■& «£"& && &&&<£ &&&& <&&&& &&&& &&&<& &sktfrifc>' ife<fcsfc>'& g£ 




RENAULT'S HYGROMETER, WITH ASPIRATOR. 



These instruments consist of a thin and highly- 
polished tubular vessel of silver, having one end 
somewhat longer than the other. A very delicate 
thermometer is introduced into the tube at the 
smaller end, to which end of the tubular vessel, 
also, a flexible rubber tube with ivory mouth- 
piece is attached. A sufficient quantity of ether 
to cover the bulb of the thermometer, being 
poured into the silver vessel, the ether is agitated 
by breathing through the flexible tube. A rapid 
evaporation ensues until at the moment the dew- 
point is reached, the moisture is seen to condense 
upon the exterior surface of the polished silver 
tube. The reading of the thermometer at this 
precise moment gives the dew-point. Complete in 
case, $75.00. Too high priced for ordinary use, 
but a splendid addition to an experimental outfit. 
13° 






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&& 44 4 4 44# 




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BROODING. 

For the first day after the chicks are taken from 
the incubator they should be confined to a brooder, 
to get them used to it, so they will go in and 
out. 

The brooder or nursery should be so constructed 
that they can go in and out at will, and not be 
compelled to stay under the hover when too warm, 
or outside when cold, as is the case with too many 
brooders, the chicks in the middle being made 
prisoners by those on the outer edges and injured 
or suffocated, while at the same time those near 
the outer edges are perhaps suffering with cold. 

The illustration shows a very nice arrangement 
for a nursery or indoor brooder, and is convenient 
to have even when you have large brooding houses 
heated by hot water pipes. This brooder can be 
made by anyone who is handy with tools — the 
metal heater and chimney can be made by any 
tinsmith. 

A brooder is supposed to take the place of a 
good hen. To do this successfully it must be made 
as nearly like a hen as possible. Now how is a hen 
built? Where does the heat come from ? Where 
do the chicks hover ? How do they get to and 
from the heat, and receive fresh air? Look at the 
illustration of a brooding hen, and see for yourself. 
Is not the heat which the chicks get from her 
principally side heat? By chance a chick may get 
caught under the breast bone or under the foot of 
a hen, but not often. The wings, feathers and 
132 






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down of the hen retain the greater part of the 
heat from the body. The brooding chicks can put 
their heads out for fresh air, instead of being 
crammed into a bunch and surrounded by from 
fifty to a hundred other chicks. If they are too 
warm they can get out, if not pinned down under 
the breast bone or foot of the hen. 

The heat from the hen certainly cannot te 
termed ''bottom heat," nor yet "top heat." It 
is — as she squats down and her body is surrounded 
by the chicks — principally "side heat," with some 
top heat retained by her feaihers. Nature pro- 
vides a covering for the chicks to nestle under, 
and a brooder should have something soft and 
heat retaining for them to huddle under ; not 
simply a top, compelling them to squat down on 
the floor, but something to take the place of the 
feathers of the hen. 

For the first week the temperature of the brooder 
should between 8o° and 90 at about two inches 
above the floor. After a few days' practice one 
easily learns to test the heat under the hover of 
brooder by the feel of the hand, and the ther- 
mometer is then unnecessary. When we say that 
the temperature should be between 8o° and 90 , 
we mean that it should be that warm under the hover 
without any chicks under it. 'As the chicks grow 
older they require less artificial heat, because they 
furnish more animal heat as they increase in size, 
so you should gradually decrease the heat ; but 
never have it lower than 70 with chicks under the 
hover, as long as they require brooding. This 
i33 



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minimum degree of heat should be reached at 
about the sixth week. 

It is not necessary to use the thermometer after 
once adjusting the heat supply of a brooder, 
because (with a proper brooder) you can tell by 
the action of the chicks if they are too warm or 
too cold. If too warm they will put their heads 
out from under the hover or come out entirely. 
If too cold they will chirp in a tone which no one 
can mistake for a signal of satisfaction. Learn 
to tell the right temperature by placing your hand 
under the hover — it is very simple and easy, and 
less trouble and more satisfactory than a ther- 
mometer. Some persons will advise you to have 
a brooder too hot rather than too cold. We say 
have it just right. If the brooder feels comfort- 
ably warm to the hand, and the chicks stay under 
the hover (at hovering time), seem contented and 
do not cry out, you may be sure they are all right. 

Brooders with either "top heat" or "bottom 
heat," and having a square or oblong hover, say, 
eighteen to twenty-four inches square or wide, 
either with or without flannel or woolen drapery, 
are open to very serious objections. When the 
chicks in the middle get too warm they try to 
move to the outer edges or to get outside entirely, 
but those on the outer edges, being comfortable or 
just a trifle cool, refuse to stir, and the ones in the 
centre must remain there and become overheated 
and sick. Or, if the chicks on the outer edges 
become cold they crowd toward the centre and 
crush or smother .the chicks that are there. You 
i34 



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say, why not have the heat just right, so they will 
have no occasion to push or crowd? How can 
you, with that kind of a brooder ? Place a crowd 
of people under a shed the floor of which is heated, 
and will not those in the middle be uncomfortably 
warm if those on the outside edges are just warm 
enough? Or, if those in the middle are just warm 
enough, will not the outer ones be cold, particu- 
larly if the weather is extra warm or extremely 
cold? It would be the same if the heat came 
from the top. But let chicks surround either a 
square or oblong heat reservoir or heater, so 
arranged that the hover projects only far enough 
to shelter two or three rows of chicks (only 
two or three deep from the outer row of flannel 
drapery to the wall of the heat reservoir^, and 
crowding is impossible ; the inner chicks can get 
out or the outer ones can get closer in. If a chick 
is pushed from under the hover, another takes its 
place, and the ousted chick finds the vacant spot 
and occupies it. The inner row of chicks are only 
about six inches from the outside air and do not 
suffer for want of pure ventilation. 

You can place a hundred men in rows two or 
four abreast and they will be comfortable, but place 
them in a square or round room just large enough 
to hold them, and, no matter whether it be winter 
or summer, at least one-third of them will be un- 
comfortable. Is not the argument conclusive? 
Still we do not give this from theory, but from ex- 
perience — after burying bushels of chicks from 
both "bottom heat" and "top heat "brooders. 
i35 



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Since adopting "side heat" we have not lost over 
five per cent. 

The flannel or woolen drapery which hangs 
down from the hover and helps retain the heat and 
gives a feeling of cosy comfort to the chicks is 
essential. Nature gives them side heat (from the 
hen) and soft covering (the feathers of the hen), 
and so must we. if we want them to be comfort- 
able and thrifty. Heated floor or ceiling is not 
enough. Would you like to heat a bedroom up 
to 70 or 8o° and lie on the bed or floor with no 
covering ? We think you would prefer to have the 
room at'30 or 40 and put on a few blankets. Use 
your best judgment in the matter of brooding. 
If your present system is not satisfactory, or if you 
have not begun, try the side heat, which combines 
partial top heat, as shown by the illustration of the 
brooding hen, with narrow hover well draped with 
something to take the place of feathers, and you 
will solve the problem of brooding. This plan 
takes from one-third to one-half less fuel than other 
styles of brooders. 

After the chicks have been in the brooder or 
nursery one day and night they should be allowed 
more run, and if the weather is fair they should 
have out-doors runs. Keep them from the grass 
until the sun or wind has dried it. If the weather 
is cold, watch them the first day and see that they 
do not stay out and get chilled ; but after they have 
learned to go in and out of the brooder, they may 
be let out in winter as well as in warmer seasons, 
I but you must use some judgment. 

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Keep the brooder clean by using sand or earth 
on floor of brooder and house. Do not use the 
very fine, dusty kind of sand if you can get any- 
thing else. 

As soon as the chicks show an inclination to 
roost get them out of the brooding house and into 
less expensive houses, if you have them, and make 
room for others, besides giving them more range. 



BROODING HOUSES. 



A continuous brooding house, divided into 
rooms, should have a passage way through it, and 
if thirty feet long, or longer, should have a hot 
water stove to furnish heat for the brooders, so as 
to save attention to so many lamps. 

If the house is furnished with single brooders, 
each room should be five and one-half feet wide 
and nine feet long — the length being parallel with 
the divisions or dividing fences of yards. If heated 
by continuous hot water pipes, the rooms' should 
be nine feet wide — at right angles with the dividing 
fences, and five and one- half feet long — parallel 
with dividing fences. The reason for this arrange- 
ment will be apparent on examining the different 
brooding apparatus. These rooms will accommo- 
date from fifty to one hundred chicks, each. 
137 



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BROODING HOUSE 

WITH HOT AIR BROODERS. 



This brooding house is fitted with the Von Culin 
Indoor Hot Air Brooders. The rooms may be 
five feet wide and nine feet long, or may be made 
wider, if desired. The position of each brooder is 
shown (B). The floor is elevated one foot above 
the ground, to allow brooder floor to be on a level 
with the room floor. The top frame shown around 
the hot air brooder is moveable, and may be taken 
away after the chicks get used to the brooder. 
Or, it may be covered with fine wire netting and 
placed on at night where there is danger from rats 
or other vermin. 



BROODING HOUSE 

WITH HOT WATER SYSTEM. 



This brooding house is fitted with the Von Culin 
system of hot water piping and brooders. The 
drawing shows the arrangement of the pipes and 
brooders, the division of rooms and yards, the 
arrangement of base board and wire divisions, and 
the passage way back of the rooms. The second 
drawing gives details of the brooding system. 

Each room should be nine feet wide ; this gives 
a brooder nine feet long. The depth or width of 
139 



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VON CULIN S BROODING SYSTEM. 
(For Hot Water Circulation.) 

two inch mesh. If base board is only one foot 
high, then use one inch mesh. Posts should be 
ten feet apart. Passage, two and one-half feet 

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wide. It does not cost any more to build rooms 
this size and shape than to build them long and 
narrow. The wide room gives a better shaped 
yard. 

The preceding illustration represents the Von 
Culin system of brooders, heated by circulation of 
hot water for houses of all sizes. The illustration 
on page 140, shows the application of the same. 
Y, shows the passage of house; D, the floor; P, 
the base board above the brooder ; S, wire netting 
which divides the passage from rooms ; H, the 
main hot water pipe ; K, return pipe ; L, the box- 
ing of pipes, forming the heater ; M, wire netting 
to keep chicks from 'pipes ; W, flannel covering 
the wire, and strips of flannel hanging from hover ; 
N, hover, which is hinged, and can be raised for 
cleaning ; V, divisions to separate each brooder 
heater ; R, S, are two one and one-half-inch holes 
opening from heater box into passage, and having 
a round button, to regulate the heat for each 
separate brooder, to suit chicks of any age. All 
pipes are run on a dead level ; and all hovers the 
same height, though the hover can be lowered to 
any desired degree to accommodate chicks of any 
size. It is not necessary to be continually shifting 
chicks from one room to another ; the height and 
temperature of each or any hover may be changed 
at will. 



142 






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HOT WATER STOTE 

WITH CONTROLLING APPARATUS. 



This Hot Water Stove, which has a water jacket 
around it, supplies the heat to the hot water pipes 
of brooding system, or for other purposes ; the 

water flowing out 
through the upper 
pipe and returning 
through the lower one 
to be reheated, keep- 
ing up a continual cir- 
culation. The tank 
above is to 
supply any 
escape of 
water in the 
form of steam 
which may 
occasionally be gener- 
ated by overheating. 
The safety valve pre- 
vents a pressure of 
over five pounds, as 
pressure above that 
point would stop the 
circulation of water. 
Each day the valve below the tank is opened to 
supply any waste which may have occurred, and 
then closed again, and kept closed while heating 
the brooding house. If hot water is needed, to 
mix feed, scald chickens, etc., the two valves from 
i43 




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the brooder pipes are closed and the valves to and 

from the tank are opened, thus causing a circula- 
tion through the tank and boiling the water. To 
turn the circulation through the brooders again, 
you simply close the valves nearest the tank and 
open those leading to and from the brooders. 
With the Von Culin system two pipes only are 
used in the brooders ; other pipes may be run into 
the rooms or passage. With the "top heat 
system four pipes are used. Either system is 
simple, and may be laid by any handy mechanic 
or plumber. Many poultrymen make and fit up all 
their brooders and houses. 



« 



SINGLE OUT-DOOR BROODERS. 



Where the climate will permit and you have 
plenty of ground, the outdoor brooders can be 
used without division fences, and in most places, 
without any permanent fence at all, by simply hav- 
ing one or two portable fences to place around the 
brooder for two or three days, to colonize the 
brood, then taken away and used for other brood- 
ers. Scatter the brooders around the field or lawn, 
and the chicks will have grass and larger range 
than otherwise, which always reduces the expense 
of raising them, gives them quicker growth and 
better health. It is a profitable way to raise 
broilers. 

144 










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OUT-DOOR HOT WATER BROODER. 



This illustration shows a brooder with six com- 
partments, each of which holds one hundred chicks. 
The brooders are made of various sizes, to hold 
two hundred, four hundred or six hundred chicks, 
and are heated by a lamp. The drop runs are 
shown on one side, while those on the other 
side are up. The runs are kept up the first- 
day, until the chicks get used to the brooder, then 
lowered. 

Moveable runs are made to keep the broods 
separated. They can be made wide at the farther 
ends by placing the corner yards at an angle. If 
these runs are made near a division fence some of 
the larger chicks may be let out into a larger yard 
or a free run at your convenience. These brooders 
need no houses, but may be placed in a field, 
orchard, or yard. In severe climates they may be 
put under a shed in the winter, and moved out 
later in the season. They are principally side heat 
with moderate top heat. It is impossible to over- 
heat, or for the chicks in them to crowd and 
smother. It is the same principle as used in our 
Hot-water System in Brooding Houses. 

The brooder which has a number of compart- 
ments should have a yard for each compartment, 
or for each brood; but should be made movable, 
so that the whole plot or group of runs can be 
plowed or spaded, or the entire arrangement 
moved to new ground. 

147 



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BROODER YARDS. 



All brooder houses should have yards or runs, 
the larger the better. The fence should consist of 
a base board one or two (two preferred) feet high, 
nailed to posts, two by four inches, placed ten feet 
apart and two feet in the ground and six feet above 
ground, with wire netting above it. If the base 
board is two feet high the mesh of the netting may 
be one and a half inch or two inches, but if the 
base board is only one foot high, then you should 
have one inch mesh netting at least one foot above 
the board, and finish above with larger mesh. The 
same kind of fence should divide the yards or 
runs. If possible have an independent gate at the 
outer end of each yard. You will soon recognize 
its usefulness. Besides keeping the chicks separated 
and at peace with neighbors, the base board breaks 
the wind in winter. 



FEEDING CHICKS. 



Give them no food for the first twenty-four hours, 
as the yelk of the egg is absorbed by the chick 
just before it breaks from the shell, and supplies 
nourishment for at least twenty-four hours after 
hatching. Cramming other food into the stomach 
before the yelk is digested is injurious. 

Give them fresh, clean water from the start. 
Have it in a fountain so they cannot get into it. 
148 



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If water is given them in open vessels they will 
stand in it, splash themselves and get chilled, which 
is dangerous in cold weather and undesirable at all 
times. They will also make the water filthy and 
unfit to drink. 

We have tried the plan of giving no water for 
the first three weeks, with very good results ; but 
the trouble which begins when water is first given 
to them makes the method undesirable and very 
risky, as they will often drink until they fall over 
or froth at the mouth. 

For the first week give millet seed, as much as 
they will eat up clean, every two hours. If you 
cannot get millet seed (which is sold by all seeds- 
men), or will not use it because you think it is 
too high, give finely cracked wheat, corn, or the 
grain which is raised in your section. Sieve 
out the coarser parts for larger chicks as it would 
be wasted if fed to chicks under a week old. 
Place granulated charcoal and grit where they 
can get it at will. Grass is good for them at all 
times. 

Second week, give millet seed, fine cracked 
wheat, cracked corn, and occasionally (about twice 
a week) rolled oats. If millet seed is high in price, 
discontinue it the second week and keep on with 
the cracked grain. Let the cracked grain be fine 
through the day and coarser at the last feeding in 
the evening. Do not mix the grain, but give each 
kind separately — not two kinds at any meal. The 
change gives them a relish. Once a day give them 
a feed of finely ground green bone (fresh), about 
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the bulk of a grain of corn for each chick. If the 
chicks are confined give finely chopped onion tops 
or onions. Feed every two hours. 

Third week, give the same food as second week, 
but increase the quantity of green bone one-half. 
Feed five times a day. 

Fourth week, still feed five times a day, and to 
the bill of fare add cooked fresh meat, finely 
ground, once a day, the quantity for each chick 
being the bulk of three grains of corn. 

Fifth week, morning food, first day, two parts 
ground corn, two parts ground oats, one part bran. 
Mix with just enough water to make it stick 
together (do not have it sloppy). Use hot water 
in cold weather. Always allow it to stand fifteen 
minutes after mixing, to swell. Have the corn and 
oats ground together, they grind better that way, 
and make a better mixture. Feed cracked grain 
the balance of the day, that is at noon, in the 
middle of the afternoon and about a half-hour 
before they go to the hover for the night, making- 
four meals a day. Second day : soft feed as above 
for first feed and at noon. Cracked grain balance 
of the day. Third day : three meals of same soft 
food, and cracked grain at last feeding. Same for 
the balance of the week. 

Sixth week : same soft food at each meal except 
last one at night, increasing the allowance of 
chopped, cooked meat. Meat should be given 
between meals, but never give more than the bulk 
of a chestnut to each chick. 

Seventh week and until marketed, same as sixth 
150 



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week, and give all they will eat up clean at each 
meal, except meat. 

Grass is wholesome for chicks as soon as they 
begin to eat. If they do not have access to grassy 
runs or yards, it is well to cut a few fresh sods as 
often as convenient, and place them in the runs. 
If this cannot be done, fresh cut grass is good. 
When grass is out of season, finely chopped 
cabbage once a day or every other day to chicks 
over three weeks old. 

Do not forget the charcoal, grit, and a box of 
crushed shell for each brood. 



FATTENING BROILERS, 



Fattening broilers by close confinement is a mis- 
take. Try to put on all possible flesh by giving 
them all the food they will eat up clean, and the 
more exercise they have the better their appetite 
will be, the faster they will grow, and the hardier 
birds they will make. 

If you undertake to force chicks under four 
weeks old by soft food, you will impair their diges- 
tion, cause them to be weak in the legs, and to 
feather fast. You may gain a little flesh by the 
soft food from the start, on those chicks which do 
thrive; but that will be overbalanced by losses 
from leg weakness, diarrhoea, forced feathers, etc. 
By any method of feeding some chickens will be 
151 



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fatter and plumper than others. It is ridiculous to 
talk of fattening pen broilers. 

Would any sane man undertake to fatten a 
young pig if he wanted it to grow and put on flesh ? 
Would you fatten or try to fatten any stock that 
you wished to grow? 

You must make bone and muscle first, then put 
on flesh. To do this you must keep your chicks 
(or other stock) in good health. By overloading 
man, beast or fowl with unnatural food you are 
almost sure to disarrange the system ; and soft, 
sloppy food is not the natural food of chicks or 
fowls. If you are determined to give soft food to 
chicks under four weeks old, bake corn cake in 
the oven, and make it so that it will crumble. 

Never feed boiled eggs to chicks. 



OLD FOWLS AND YOUNG CHICKS. 



Keep old fowls away from the brooders and 
brooding houses and runs where incubator chicks 
are kept, and do not mix the chicks which were 
hatched under hens with those hatched in incuba- 
tors, because the chances are nine to one that lice 
or mites will be communicated to the latter. 

Chicks hatched in incubators are (cleanliness hav- 
ing been observed) free from vermin ; but we have 
known a whole section of brooder houses to be 
filled with lice by placing a single brood of eleven 
chicks, whose mother died, in a brooder with other 
chicks. The new comers were not suspected of 
152 






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•61 



being lousy, and the lice multiplied and spread 
through all the adjoining rooms and yards before 
being discovered. 

We have also known roup to be spread in the 
same manner — in one instance breaking up the 
establishment. In the latter instance the proprie- 
tor was warned, but he knew it all, and had it his 
own way. 

Things which seem small or trifling sometimes 
make tremendous results. By watching and direct- 
ing small matters we control greater ones. 



SELECTING BREEDING STOCK. 



Where a large number of fowls'are to be bought 
at one time it is not easy to get just what is most 
desirable, but care should be used that no objec- 
tionable fowls are bought or kept. 

If you are starting a new plant, you want young 
stock. Do ?iot start with a lot of old hens, for they 
will certainly give you a set back that will not only 
dampen your ardor, but kill your profit the first sea- 
son, and perhaps cause you to make a total fail- 
ure. 

The old notion that an old hen would produce 
better and stronger chicks than a young hen, has 
died a natural death, and is laughed at by the 
majority of experienced poultrymen. If you want 
hens to hatch with, the old ones are all right ; but 
for ordinary use they have the following disquali- 

153 



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fications : they lay fewer eggs than younger birds, 
they are more liable to disease or return of previous 
ailments, very liable to become overfat, have often 
acquired bad habits, such as feather pulling, egg eat- 
ing, laziness; and when killed and dressed for mar- 
ket do not please the customers or bring new trade. 

By all means select young stock. You will be com - 
pelled to keep over for the second season about one- 
half of the stock you start with, if you intend to 
establish a good system on a large scale, and you 
will then find that you have plenty stock that is as 
old as you want it. 

Ordinarily you can tell the young stock by 
examining their legs, heads, combs and plumage : 
the legs being smooth and clean, the heads bright 
and clear, the comb smooth and not too large ; 
there will be an absence of the short spurs which 
are found on some old hens. The plumage will 
be fresh in color, without the brassy or dull appear- 
ance shown in the plumage of old stock. In old 
fowls of the white varieties the yellow tinge shows 
plainly in the males, yet some of the young cocks 
show it plainly. The novice will find no difficulty 
in telling old from young males ; but with pullets 
it is not always so easy. Some pullets have very 
rough legs, and would be taken for hens two or 
three years old ; but they are not desirable, so you 
need not make that mistake. On the other hand 
you will often find hens four or five years old with 
as clean legs as pullets have. A young hen or 
pullet does not generally have as rough a comb 
or wattles, and is more active. 
154 



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CULLING BREEDING STOCK. 



Cull your stock as often as you can find any 
culls. Culls of any kind are undesirable. If you 
find a hen that is a poor layer, get rid of her and 
replace her with a better one. She will generally 
eat as much as a good layer, takes up as much 
room, and requires as much care and attention, 
except in gathering eggs. 

An egg-eating or a feather- pulling hen, no matter 
how fine a bird or how good a layer, should be killed 
and marketed or eaten. In a very short time she 
would teach the other fowls her bad habits. An 
egg eater will sometimes eat three times as many 
eggs as she lays. 

The hen that wants to sit quite often may be 
useful in that line, but no other, and should be got 
rid of. 

The lazy hen that lingers on the roost late in the 
day is not the one that lays the eggs. Cull out all 
of that kind, and either replace them or keep 
fewer hens ; they ea the profit made by good 
hens, and are a serious drawback. 



WHEN TO CULL. 



First cull before you buy, next as soon after as 
you can determine what to cull. Then cull the 
chicks at broiler age, keeping the best in form and 
color for breeding or for eggs, then cull as often as 
you find anything to cull. 

155 



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THE BUSINESS HEN. 



The business hen is the one that brings the pro- 
fit. As a rule, you will find that the lively, quick 
moving hen or pullet is a good layer. A large, 
bright comb also indicates a good layer. Where a 
limited number of fowls, are kept, the best^and the 
poorest layers may be discovered by the shape, 
color and other peculiarities of the eggs, and in 
such cases the culling and selecting can be carried 
to much finer points than usual. 



A SECRET. 



We call the following a secret because few per- 
sons outside the charmed circle of successful 
poultry culture know it, and only the leaders of the 
successful make full use of the knowledge of it. 

It is the secret of success with poultry on a large 
scale, and is practised by the most successful poul- 
trymen throughout the world. 

Kill and burn all diseased chickens and fowls as 
soon as discovered. 

Observe the flocks every day and visit their 
houses every night. If you hear any wheezing or 
sneezing, or see any shaking of heads, use the 
vaporizer described elsewhere promptly. 

Feed no carrion or tainted meat nor any spoiled, 
musty or damaged food of any kind. See that 
the meat you use is sweet and fresh, the grain good 
and sound ; the water fresh and clean, cool in 
summer and not frozen in winter. Supply plenty 
of gravel or grit, lime in some shape — crushed 
156 



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shells or otherwise, and granulated or broken 
charcoal all the time. 

Give your birds clean and comfortable quarters. 

Just as soon as a hen ceases to be profitable 
market it. When you see a fowl that does not 
look like a business fowl — one that stays late on 
the roost, stands around by itself, is inactive, over- 
fat, broken down, walks unsteadily, is pale, or 
shows signs of moulting, dress and market it 
promptly ', except where you wish to keep moult- 
ing hens over for the next season, and they are 
not the most profitable kind to keep. 

Remember that this rule does not apply to dis- 
eased fowls. The first part of the ' ' secret ' ' dis- 
poses of them. 

When these rules are strictly followed there will 
be no danger of diseased fowls. You may say 
that you do not wish to sell or reduce your stock. 
Perhaps not, but the birds we have described, the 
overfat, inactive and moulting fowls are fit subjects 
for disease, which in every form is more easily 
avoided than cured, and your risk of loss is far 
greater with a few such fowls among your flocks 
than from a reduction in numbers by marketing 
the same. 

A YILLAOOUS PRACTICE. 



The preceding rules, if strictly carried out, pre- 
vent and remove all temptation toward the vil- 
lainous practice of marketing diseased fowls. It is 
almost incredible, yet a fact, that many extensive 

i57 



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breeders and commission men kill, dress and 
market diseased poultry. In a State which we 
need not name, we have seen fowls in all stages of 
roup, chicken-pox, canker, etc., offered for sale 
by the poultry dealers and commission men, for 
table use, in the same markets and stores with fish, 
meat and game. Hens so badly diseased that they 
could not eat, and those with heads swollen to 
almost double their normal size, were dressed 
heads off. Never sell a fowl that you cannot leave 
the head on. Never buy one with the head off. 

Of course you indignantly disclaim any idea of 
selling diseased fowls, and we are inclined to be- 
lieve that you would not do so intentionally; but 
unless diseased fowls are killed and burned as soon 
as discovered and the utmost vigilance exercised 
to discover them, you are very apt to be the unin- 
tentional assistant in such business. For instance 
you have a lot of fowls to sell, in order to make 
room for growing stock. A buyer or huckster 
comes along and makes you an offer for the entire 
lot. You have not been diligent in examining them 
of late, and a mild form of some disease has got 
among them without your notice, or you have a 
few quarantined, and you let them go just as they 
are, because, in the latter event, he tells you that 
he thinks he can cure them ; and they all go into 
the coop together. When he gets them to his 
killing house he cures the worst ones first, with 
knife or hatchet, whichever way looks best. Some 
eggs look best scrambled ; some fowls look best 
"heads off." 

158 



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Men who deliberately do such things would 
be more useful to the poultry fraternity with 
heads off. 

Poultrymen, as a rule, are first-rate people, but 
there are poultry jockeys as well as horse jockeys. 
The horse trader who doses and doctors a nag to 
conceal a dozen imperfections from the innocent 
purchaser, is a saint in comparison with the man 
who knowingly sells a diseased fowl for food. 

Of what interest is this to the honorable begin- 
ner? It shows him an existing, hidden danger 
and the means by which to avoid it. If he is on 
his guard against selling diseased fowls, he will 
also be on his guard against buying them, and 
that one point may decide his success or failure 
in raising- poultry. One diseased fowl may spread 
ruin throughout the establishment. 



THE YAPORIZER AND ITS USE. 



One of the most useful implements on the poultry 
farm is a vaporizer. If you have not got one, 
you can easily make one. Take an ordinary hand 
lamp which has a No. i burner, and make a tin 
chimney for it, similar to an incubator or brooder 
chimney, with mica piece in front to show flame. 
Take a seam/ess tin box, about six inches in 
diameter and any convenient depth, having a 
cover to fit, and, with strips of tin and rivets, 

i59 

^ '— —- — — _ _ 



fasten the box to the top of the chimney — over the 
top and about an inch above it, so as to leave a 
good draft for lamp. If you cannot find a box of 
convenient size, get a small cake pan or saucepan, 
and fit a flat tin lid to it. Having your vaporizer 
complete, keep on hand (in air-tight jar or box) a 
supply of carbonate of ammonia and gum cam- 
phor. 

When you discover any colds, wheezing or sneez- 
ing among your flocks, mark the house or the 
houses, and after dark cover all the cracks and 
close the doors and windows, and having put a 
convenient quantity of carbonate of ammonia and 
green camphor in the tin box (two ounces of car- 
bonate of ammonia to one ounce of green cam- 
phor), light the lamp, and burn it in the poultry 
house. The two ingredients being volatile, will 
vaporize and fill all parts of the house. Burn 
until the fowls move about on the perches and 
show signs of uneasiness, and the vapor gives 
a strong, pungent odor. If the birds attempt 
to leave the roosts, remove the vaporizer. For 
an ordinary cold one fumigation will generally 
effect a cure, and the fowls need not be removed 
from their house ; it is also a good preventive 
to be used occasionally when colds or roup are 
prevalent in your neighborhood. Cases of roup, 
diphtheria, canker, etc., should be removed to 
a quarantine and treated there. Our advice is 
to kill and burn them at once ; but as we 
know that some will not do this, then we must 
advise what is next best. Having placed these 
1 60 






| 

cases in quarantine, close the roosting houses and & 
use the vaporizer each night for at least three |» 
nights. If in the early stages, three treatments &■ 
will cure, but later on it requires more. We have 
repeatedly cured bad cases of roup and diphtheria 
with the vaporizer, and have never failed when 
taken in time. When not in use always keep 
the box containing the ammonia and camphor 
closed. The success of this treatment depends 
upon using it promptly, and in bad cases, persever- 
ingly. Those who have had experience in treat- 
ing roup by old methods will gladly drop the dis- 
gusting, sickening processes, and substitute this 
clean, wholesome, and convenient one. It is a 
good plan to keep lantern and vaporizer close 
together, and when you make your night round 
with lantern, just carry the vaporizer along. 



161 



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*S< 



EGG AND BROILER FARM. 



The above engraving shows a section of an egg 
and broiler farm built by C. Von Culin in 1885, 
reproduced from a photograph. In the foreground 
are a group of sixteen brooding houses under four 
roofs (four under each roof), with yards attached. 
Beyond are laying and roosting houses scattered 
at regular intervals. They are built on runners, 
and may be moved to new ground as often as 
required for cleanliness and new pasture. There 
are no fences around these houses ; a small, port- 
able fence is placed around a house for three days 
to colonize a new flock, and then removed. Eggs 
from fowls kept on this plan show a large per cent, 
of fertility and yield vigorous chicks. 
162 



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hearson's AUTOMATIC NURSE. 

For Nursing Weak or Premature Inf-nts. 



HATCHING DUCKS IN CHINA. 



The artificial hatching of ducks is one of the 
interesting industries of China, and has been 
carried on extensively for hundreds of years. The 
Chinese are very fond of ducks and duck eggs, 
yet those in America are not far behind the Africo- 
Americans in their appetite for chicken. Most of 
the Chinese hatching houses are constructed of 
bamboo, plastered with mud and thatched with 
straw. The eggs are placed in baskets which have 
a tile bottom and a close straw cover. They are 
arranged around in rows and fire placed beneath. 
They are tested on the fifth day, and on the 
fifteenth day are placed on shelves and covered 
163 



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with blankets, the animal heat then being depended 
upon to finish the hatching. The natives along 
the coast who live on house boats or rafts get the 
eggs hatched at the hatching house and raise the 
ducks literally on the water. 



CROCODILE EGGS. 



Even if he does commit fo?d deeds on the Nile, 
the crocodile cannot be classed with poultry. Still 
it may interest many of our readers to know that it 
lays an egg smaller than a goose egg, the average 
size being three inches long and two inches in 
diameter, equally large at both ends, and very 
similar in shape to a snake egg. They are laid in 
the sand and hatched by the sun. On breaking 
the shell of an egg well advanced in incubation, 
you will find the young " croc " doubled up with 
his tail to his nose. 



164 



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INDEX. 



Incubation in Egypt 

Egyptian Incubating House, . . 

A Good Incubator, 

How to Choose an Incubator. . . 

Don't Make a Failure, 

The Best Size Incubator, .... 

Hot Air or Hot Water ? 

Marking Eggs 

Table for Records, 

Cooling the Eggs, 

Testing Eggs, . 

How the Chicks Develop, . . . 

Animal Heat, 

When Hatching ' 

Dead in the Shell, 

Periods of Incubation, 

Moisture in Hatching, 

Hatching Ducks, 

Hatching Geese. 

Hatching Turkeys, , 

Hatching Ostriches , 

A Letter, 

The Thermostatic Incubator, . . 

The Eureka Incubator, 

The Eureka Brooder, 

Improved Simplicity Hatcher, . , 
Directions for Operating, . . . . , 
Simplicity Compartment Hatcher, 

165 



PAGE 
5 

8 

14 

15 
17 
18 

19 
28 

32 

33 
35 
47 
54 
54 
55 
63 
64 
72 
73 
73 
78 

79 
Si 

84 
85 
S6 
89 
92 



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ii 4 444 4 444 4 4 44ii 44 4 4444444 444-4 4 444 44 44 44 44 & 

>3* 



PAGE 

Water Expansion Regulators, 92 

Two Regulators, 98 

Hocus Pocus Regulators, 100 

Other Methods of Regulation, 112 

Thermostats, 115 

Moisture Gauges and Hygrometers, 130 

Brooding, 132 

Brooding Houses, 137 

Hot Air Brooding House, 138 

Hot Water Brooding House, 140 

Hot Water Stove with Apparatus, 143 

Sing'e Out-door Brooder, 144 

Out-door Hot Water Brooder, 147 

Brooder Yards, 148 

Feeding Chicks, 148 

Fattening Broilers, 151 

Old Fowls and Young Chicks, 152 

Selecting Breeding Stock, 153 

Culling Breeding Stock, 155 

When to Cull, 155 

The Business Hen, 156 

A Secret, 156 

A Villainous Practice, 157 

The Vaporizer and Its Use, 159 

Egg and Broiler Farm, 162 

Automatic Baby Nurse, 163 

Hatching Ducks in China, 163 

Crocodile Eggs, 164 



166 



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T "T 7 T' "T* "T "v T' T' T T' T* T - -J- •}* •-£> %• 



I have bred Barred Ply- 
mouth Rocks exclu- 
sively for a number 
of years, and believe 
that I have stock that 
will please you. My 
fowls have been care- 
fully selected this 
season, especially 
for theirGood Combs 
andWell Barred Plu- 
mage, Yellow Leg 
and Beaks, Larg^ 
Compact Bodies and 
Good Laying quali- 
ties. Fowls. $2 OO 

and upward; Eggs, 
$2.00 per setting. 
Address, 

/ T. grenck, 

SBSXIrbana ^Jtrseb, 
Toledo, ©hio. 




J))3tilti®(ij §cappliei) 



S- 



OF ALL KINDS 






"•■'"""mm 



5 



wt ©lovep If ay 

OUR SPECIALTY. 
OUf* CATALOGUE FHEH TO fliili 



F^vey Seed (io., 3* 



17 and I9 Ellicott St., 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



167 



Eagle Bi*and the Best 
?S* ROOFING ?i 

It is superior to any other roofing and unequaled for House, Barn r 
Factory or out-buildings ; it costs half the price of shingles, tin 
or iron ; itlis ready for use and easily applied by any one; it 
is the best roofing in the market, in durability to all others. 
NO TAR USED. 

Send for estimate and state size of roof. 

The Roofing that for the longest time puts off the necessity of 
repairs or renewing is the roofing which must, in the nature of 
things commend itself to the user as the most economical. There- 
fore, it becomes the safeguard for QUALITY and DURABILITY 
to select tbe kind that has proved the most effective in battling 
the elements. 

Our EAGLE BRAND IHPROVED ROOFING combines the im- 
portant qualities of strmgth and durability Its superior method 
of construction, uniformity of finish, facility of operation, cheap- 
ness and durability, justify us in recommending this Roofing, as 
combining more merits and fewer faults than any other Roofing 
now in use. It unites the most reliable water- proof materials- 
in the best manner. It is warranted indestructible and guaran- 
teed to outlast any other roofing material now on the market. 

RUBBER GEMBNT. 

A POSITIVE CURE FOR LEAKY ROOFS. 

It is designed expressly for repairing breaks or nail holes in tin, 
metal or other Rcofs, pointing up^nd repairing about chimneys 
where tin joins brick or woodwork, flashings, copings, clapboards 
where houses are joined together, gutters, cupolas, dormer win- 
dows, sky-lights, hot-house frames, decks or bottom of boats, 
aquariums, water troughs or tanks, leaks in gas or water-pipes, 
cementing seams in wood, stone or iron work, and in fact all 
places required to be made water-tight. Price $1.25 penolbs. Can. 

P^UBBBI^ PAINIP. 

Our Roofing Paint is superior to any other, it is the best paint in the 
World for Felt, Tin, Iron, or to preserve old Shingle roofs. It 
has heavy body, expands by heat, contracts by cold ; it is war- 
ranted not to peal, scale, crack nor wash off; it is easily applied, 
and is fire-proof ; it will not affect water for domestic uses; it is- 
excellent paint for sides of Barns, Outhouses, Fences, Iron 
Work, Bridges, and Brick Walls. It contains no tar, therefore 
will not crack in winter nor run in summer ; it is ready mixed 
for immediate use. 

Price in Barrel lots, only 60 cents per gallon, 

Excelsior Paint & Roofing Company, 

755 DUANE STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. , U. S. A 

168 



*_ 





w %r, Homes 



UNITED STATES NEATER CO 

DETROIT Ml CH. -C 



it 






WJ 






- ,-,ormatioi7 i?Ai 



FREE 



&y 



^m 



KE^X 



ILL 



JsrillE 



EA«£i^S 



POULTRY BOOK 
DAVIS BROS., 

WASHINGTON, NEW JERSEY. 

@3 






70 W? iM¥£ 
ff£T5 tt. 






5MJ FOff 
ONE. 



22 VARIETIES OF PURE BRED 

POULTRY, EGGS AND FOWLS. 

169 



GROUND BONE AND OYSTER SHELLS 

FOR POULTRY. 



Some of our farming friends appear to be deeply impressed with the notion, 
that hens need no food but corn in some of its forms. But we ought not to for- 
get that food means the material for everything that comes out of the system, 
and if any particular race takes up any special branch of manufacture they 
must have the raw material. All animals consume more or less lime ; it is one 
of the principal elements entering into the compcsition of the bones, but the 
hen needs an extra supply. The domesticated hen also needs more than wild 
stock of any sort, since she is stimulated to a greater production of eggs. In 
consequence, we must give her more than is contained in the various grains. 
The most useful forms in which to give lime are in the shape of coarsely ground 
bone and oyster shells. Feed these articles most abundantly at the time when 
the hens are laying most freely, and anticipate, if possible, by feeding eaily in 
the season. 

Raw bone has been proven by analysis to contain every part of an egg- 
white, yolk and of course shell. It should be constantly kept in a special place 
in the pen or apartment of laying hens, as they will consume large quantities 
of it, and it goes chiefly to egg production. Granulated is the best form in 
which to place it before adult fowls, and in this shape it keeps fresh longer than 
when ground into meal. Bone is one of the principal ingredients in the com- 
position of most of the ,l egg foods" in the market. Free circulars by addies&ing 

FITGH fertTlizer (flOKHS, 



BHY CITY, 



rarcw- 




5>HE MEDAL and 
tDIPLOMA WA5 
^WARDED these 
(BREEN PONE 
©UTTERS at the 
\©2RLD'5 FAIR. 



Our $12 Power Green Bone Cutter, over ail $26 power cutters. Has 
been awarded the First Premium at all State, Industrial, County and Local 
Fairs In this and other States over all ccmpetltors. Stands without a peer. 
Is Self-Feeding. -Superior quality. Is not complicated. Easily operated. 
And stock fed on Its cuttings do not fill up in the crops and choke. No knives 
or screws to become loosened. Best results guaranteed. Try and see how 
your stock will improve. Green bone cuttings discount grain. Purchase our 
Cutter and be convinced. Address. 

WSBSTGR S HflNNUM, Gazer\ovia_ N. Y 



70 



